A December To Remember
by KelsIsVictorious
Summary: The Victorious gang go through the last thirty one days of 2011 about as normally as they go through everything else. / / December 31st: Ring in the New Year with your favorite group of aspiring singers and actors, with a little kissing along the way!
1. December 1st

**Author's Note: **_New fic time! Woooooo._

_I love this time of year. Christmas, winter in general, I just love it. So I'm gonna use said love and write thirty one one shots based on December days in the lives of the Victorious cast. Since it's the 1st, I'm uploading the one shot for that date, and it'll go on like that until the 31st. I'll write as honestly to the show as I can, so expect lots of Schneiderisms, such as chizz, gank, and anything involving lotion or hobos. But that's why we all love the show, right? :D_

_Not all of these one shots will revolve around Christmas. There will be ones about things that come with winter in general, like snow (or lack thereof cuz it's LA) Hanukkah for Mister Robbie Shapiro, and getting ready for another great year... c:_

**Character(s): **_Jade, Cat, Beck, Robbie, Andre, Tori, Trina_

**Pairing(s): **_Just Bade. For now ;D_

* * *

><p><strong>December 1st, 2011<strong>

"These decorations would look better if they were back in their crates and stuffed somewhere in the bowels of the Hollywood Arts basement."

"Did you just say 'bowels'? Ew."

"Yes. Just because you only have a second grade vocabulary doesn't mean I have to dumb down everything I say."

"She doesn't mean it, Cat," Beck calmly stated, walking over and taking the wreath out of Jade's hands before she could use it to strangle someone. "Jade's just being a Grinch, that's all."

Trying to ignore his stupid smirk, Jade walked toward the staircase so she could sit down. Whatever. How The Grinch Stole Christmas was a pretty good story.

But it sort of goes downhill by the end, if you ask Jade.

It's not like Jade chose to stay after school to help put Christmas decorations around the school. Cat begged her and Beck pretty much made her. Besides, she was getting extra credit in her Set Design class for basically pulling things out of boxes and knocking the dust and spiders off them. Dust and spiders were two of the things that made Christmas decorating a little less suckish.

But they were almost done, so Jade decided to kick back and watch the goobs she called friends deck the halls of Hollywood Arts with boughs of holly, fa la la la la and all that chiz.

"Where's Robbie with the ladder?" Andre, who had draped at least three strands of tinsel-covered Christmas lights that were yet to be lit on his body, looked around for the Jewish nerd. "We gotta get these lights up along the ceilings before we can leave."

"He said he had to get it from the janitor," Tori explained, decorating the entrance door with the wreath that she stole from Beck. He originally took it from Jade, so that meant she indirectly stole it from Jade. At least by Jade's logic.

That gank.

Cat was twirling around the central area of the hallway, a strand of silver tinsel wrapped around her neck like a boa. "Wheeee, Christmaaaas!" Even the apple that Jade threw at her couldn't bring her down from her Christmas high. The Christmas season was her favorite time of the year. Just because one of her best friends was too much of a grump to get into the spirit didn't mean that had to get her down. Not that anything ever did.

As Cat scurried off to help Tori hang the last of the wreaths, Beck sat down next to Jade and placed a hand over hers, both to please her and to make sure she didn't pull anything else out of her Gears of War messenger bag to chuck at people. "Come on, babe, it's Christmas."

"No, it's not." Jade was tempted to yank her hand away, but didn't. Beck's hand was really warm and she always did have cold hands. "Christmas isn't for another twenty four days, so people shouldn't start spazzing out the day after Thanksgiving. I hate that."

"You hate anything that promotes peace on earth and good will towards men."

"If you ever say either of those phrases again, I'll break up with you and pants you in front of your entire family."

"You said that last year," he reminded her, lacing her fingers with his. "Yet I'm still wearing pants and I still have you."

"I never said I'd do it instantly." Jade squeezed his hand to take a bit of the sting out of what she was about to say. "I'll do it when you'd least expect it. Like when you're making a sandwich. Or in the shower."

"I dunno, I haven't showered with my pants on in front of my entire family for a while." Beck ignored the glare his girlfriend sent him and leaned closer to her. "Hey, no need for glaring. You might catch some of the tinsel on fire."

"Good…" Jade sighed, silently admitting defeat. She was getting nowhere with Beck and his stupid lack of rage toward the holiday season. "Say that you love me."

"I love you."

Before their lips could meet, Cat's high pitched laughter and shrieks of joy made them break away from each other. Beck wanted to know what was going on and Jade just wanted to throw another apple at her.

"Look, I made you all twinkly!" Cat exclaimed, hopping over to Andre and clapping her hands like an excited little girl. Andre didn't share in her amusement, since he had still been covered in the lights she ever so kindly plugged in for him.

Tori walked around Andre to take in Cat's work and used all of her willpower to keep from laughing. "Wow, Andre. Dare I say it, you really... Make it shine."

Andre just stated at her. "You shouldn't have dared to say it."

"I knew I liked you for a reason," Jade muttered, more to herself than Andre or anyone else. She wasn't one to hand out compliments, after all.

Andre sighed, but once he looked down at himself, he couldn't help but smile. "Man, I look like my grandma after the time she hid from some carolers in her Christmas tree."

"Tooooriii!"

Aaaand once again, Trina Vega had to come along and ruin one of the few moments between the group of six that didn't give Jade nausea.

The smile quickly faded from Tori's perfectly glossed lips as she spun around to face her older sister, who had thrown open the doors and was waiting not-so-patiently, as if just calling her name would make her come to her side. "Trina, my name only has four letters. You don't have to add more."

Completely ignoring that, Trina slammed the door as hard as she could (which wasn't all that hard, since the entrance doors didn't exactly swing that fast) and began walking over to her younger sister. "I have been waiting in the car for over forty five minutes! You said this wasn't going to take long!"

Tori groaned and told her, "Well, it would have took even less time of you had helped us!"

"You know I don't like to help people!"

From the corner of her eye, Jade saw Robbie waddling down the hallway, horizontally holding the ladder. That didn't stop Trina and Tori from fighting.

"You could have gotten extra credit in one of your classes for doing this!" Tori argued. "We all did!"

Trina simply shrugged. "Why would I need extra credit? That's not fair to the less talented people who need it more than me." The pat she gave to Tori's shoulder did not provide the comfort it was intended to.

As much as Jade loved seeing someone other than herself try to tear Tori down, her hatred for Trina outweighed that love. So as Robbie got closer to the quarreling sisters, she called out, "Hey Robbie, turn around."

Robbie absentmindedly did so, and the end of the ladder he was lugging knocked Trina right off her Fazzini boot clad feet.

As he watched Trina sprawl and wail on the ground in overly dramatic pain, all Robbie could get out of his mouth was a squeaky "oops" and a few nervous rambles of apology.

Nobody else, not even Cat, even attempted to look sympathetic to her bruised back, head and face.

"Hey, if you're done trying to kill people, could you bring the ladder over?" Andre asked, holding his lit up arms out. "I'm starting to get a little crispy over here."

"Cat, can you unplug him?" Tori asked as she helped her very ungrateful sister get to her feet. Trina stormed off after that and nobody protested.

The redhead, fiddling with the tinsel wrapped around her neck, pouted. "But he looks so pretty!"

"Well… I'm sure the hallway wants to look pretty too. It needs more help than Andre does, since he's already pretty" Tori weakly attempted to reason, not thinking Cat would go for it.

But she did, because she's Cat.

After she unplugged the lights and helped Andre unravel himself, she walked off to help feed the strand to Robbie, who was up on the ladder and ready to hang them. Andre shook the pieces of fake greens off of his green striped hoodie and walked over to Tori. "So, you think I'm pretty, huh?"

Tori nodded, not even trying to hide her giggles. "You most certainly are." Tilting her head and squinting her eyes, she gave him a once over and added, "Although the decorations did kind of add something."

Jade bit back a scoff. When were those two going to get over themselves and make out already?

Probably never, because they were both weenies.

Not that Jade cared about Tori's love life.

But she had to admit, the halls did look pretty good. Y'know, for being covered in fake greenery and cheap strings of lights.

Fa la la la la, la la la whatever.

* * *

><p><em>So, um, hey, could you leave me a review? Just to let me know what you think? Love it? Hate it? Wanna hurt me with a sandwich?<em>

_Drake and Josh references fo sho._

_Golly, I'm lame._

_So please review, if you'd like! And feel free to leave suggestions for future chapters! They can be for a specific date (except Christmas Eve, Christmas, and New Year's Eve. I kinda have plans for those) if you like or just a general day. But if you're going to be specific, keep in mind I'm going by the calender, so no ideas about a plot at HA if you say it's on the 10th, which is a Saturday. And note that I said_ suggestions, _so if I don't pick your idea, it's not because it was bad or because I didn't like it, but because it possibly didn't work with what I have planned._

_But heads up, DON'T suggest anything with mistletoe. Please. I can already see fifty reviews that have an idea involving Bade/Tandre/Robbie and Rex getting caught under the mistletoe._

_... Actually, that last one's not a bad idea. ;D_

_Pleasereviewiloveyouguys._


	2. December 2nd

**Author's ****Note: **_First __of __all, __thank __you __oodles __for __all __the __sweet __reviews! __You __guys __are __the __best __reviewers __ever! A__ny __ideas __I__'__ve __gotten __have __been __taken __into __consideration, __so __we__'__ll __see __if __they __get __in!_

_I partially __got __this __idea __while __watching __The __Big __Bang __Theory. __That__'__s __evident __halfway __through __the __story, if you're a fan._

_This one isn't as strong as the others are going to be, but I still think this one is pretty cute, as anything with Cat is bound to be._

**Character(s): **_Cat, __Robbie, __Robbie__'__s__Mother __(read her dialogue __with __a __really __obnoxious __Jewish __woman __accent, __that__'__s __how __I __read __it!)_

**Pairing(s): **_Cabbie __friendship_

* * *

><p><strong>December 2nd, 2011<strong>

"Have a great weekend, class! Remember to study for the test on Monday!"

_Test?_ Cat frowned. Who wants to spend the weekend studying? Not her!

But hey, that was the last class before the weekend started! Hurray!

She skipped over to Robbie's desk, where he was gathering his books and stuff with one hand and cradling Rex in the other. "Hi, Robbie! Class was fun, wasn't it?"

"As fun as trigonometry can be, I guess." Robbie smiled at his redheaded friend. "What up?"

"Stop trying to be smooth, Rob," Rex muttered.

Cat crossed her arms and gave Rex her fiercest look. It wasn't all that fierce. "You're a meanie!"

"And you're a spaz, but you don't see me gripin' 'bout it."

"Rex!" Robbie scolded. "Do you want to go in the backpack?"

Rex was surprisingly silent after that.

After a moment of quiet, Cat remembered that Robbie asked her a question, so she said, "I have plans this weekend, so I was wondering if you wanted to study together this afternoon so we could get it out of the way!"

"Really?" Cat nodded. "Yeah, sure!" It probably said something about Robbie's social life that he was ecstatic to just study trigonometry with someone, but hey, he could finally post on The Slap that he had plans on a Friday night that weren't with Rex or his Mamaw.

"Yay!" Cat ran over to grab her backpack and skedaddled back over to her curly haired friend. "Is it okay of we go to your house?"

"Uh, I guess so." Robbie stuffed his junk into his backpack and slung it over his shoulder. "Why my house?"

As they started walking out of the classroom and past their teacher's desk, who was too busy watching an iCarly web show to notice they were still even there, Cat shrugged slightly. "Well, I guess we could do it at my house. It's just that my brother's going through this nudist phase and-"

"Hey, I have an idea, why don't we go to my house and study?"

Robbie couldn't have said that fast enough.

* * *

><p>"Are ya sure you kids don't want some brisket?"<p>

Why Robbie hadn't shut his bedroom door yet, he'll never know.

He leaned out the door and yelled down the steps, "We don't want any brisket, ma!"

"Don't speak for ya cute lil' friend, Robbie!" his mother shouted back at him. "Cat, sweethawt, do ya want some brisket?"

"No thank you, Mrs. Shapiro!" Cat called back, placing her backpack on Robbie's bed. Truth is, she didn't know what brisket was, but she was pretty sure it wasn't a type of Jewish cupcake, so she could hold off for now.

"Okay, thanks, bye Mom!" Robbie slammed his bedroom door, and that certainly didn't settle well with his mother.

"Robert Shapiro, don't you slam ya door at me!"

Robbie, at his wit's end, shouted through the door, "I only slammed it because I wanted to hear something besides your shouting for once!"

He let out a huff and spun around, sort of wishing his mom hadn't decided to give him another chance.

"Hehehe..." Cat ducked her head down so Robbie wouldn't see her laugh, but he could still hear.

"What?"

"Nothing... I just remembered a funny episode of the Big Bang Theory I saw last night."

Why would she remember that out of nowhere?

Meh.

"So, I guess we should get started." Robbie say down next to her on his bed and started digging around in his backpack. Rex was downstairs in the living room, watching a rerun of The Real Girls of Northridge, so he thankfully wouldn't bother them.

He'd probably be up all night telling Robbie about their hips, but he could deal with that later.

"Kaykay!" Cat pulled out her textbook, flipped to page ninety seven, and looked at sine functions for all but ten seconds before looking back up at Robbie. "Can I ask you something?"

"Is it about ointments?"

"No."

"Oh. I guess I could still give it a shot."

Cat grinned and asked, "You're Jewish, right?"

Robbie wondered for a moment if she was serious. Did the 'fro and the loud, brisket-making mother not give that away? "Uh, yeah. I thought you knew that."

"I did. I just wanted to make sure." Cat played with a strand of her hair and added, "But if you're Jewish, why did you want to help us with the Christmas decorations yesterday? Don't you guys celebrate Bakugan?"

"It's called 'Hanukkah', Cat."

"Oh, okay! That name's a lot less copyrighted!"

Uh. Okay.

"But wait, you aren't offended by all the Christmas stuff?" Cat shoved the textbook off her lap, since she wasn't really using it anyway. "I'd get offended. But my therapist said that's because I get offended easily... He's mean."

Flipping through his textbook for the right page, since he actually wanted to get some studying done, Robbie shrugged. "My grandparents on my mom's side celebrated both holidays, so that tradition just sort of got passed down."

"That's so cool!" Cat beamed and bounced in her seat, making Robbie shift too, since they were on a bed and all. "Do you guys get eight days of Christmas and light your tree on fire and eat dreidels?"

"... Do you even know what dreidels are?"

"They're the potato pancakes, right?"

Robbie chuckled. "Uh, no, you're thinking of latkes. Dreidels are like wooden tops."

Cat gasped, bringing both hands over her mouth. "Oh my God! Those must be hard to chew!"

Robbie gave up trying to explain that to her. He found himself doing that a lot while talking to Cat. He was sure the rest of his friends could vouch for that as well.

Robbie decided to ignore that part part and explain what was wrong with all the things she previously described. "Yeah, sure. And we get eight days of Hanukkah, but one day of Christmas. We don't light our tree on fire, we light the menorah every night. And Dad insists that the tree is called a Hanukkah Bush."

After clearing that up, he looked over to find Cat scribbling something down in her notebook. Oh, she had started working on trig already? Well alright then.

He leaned over to see what problems she had started on, only to find there were no numbers on her paper. Just everything he had previously said, written in her swirly cursive.

"Cat, are you taking notes on what I just said?"

"Yeah! That's how you learn stuff!" Cat explained, looking back up at him with the cutest look. "Do you guys wear the little beanie things too? And do you eat that brisket stuff your mom was talking about, or is that something else that isn't actually food?"

And that's the story of how Cat spent at least two hours learning pretty much everything Robbie could think to tell her about Judaism and the traditions that came along with it. It is also the story of how they studied for their trig test for only seven minutes before Cat's mom came to pick her up.

Meh, who needs trig? She had a vast knowledge of Hanukkah and some of Mrs. Shapiro's brisket wrapped in aluminum foil. Besides, there might be some math involved with that dreidel thing.

Cat still thought you were supposed to eat it, though.

* * *

><p><em>The "sweethawt" was not a typo. That's Yiddish.<em>

_And by Yiddish I mean how I think the stereotypical Jewish mother would pronounce it._

_Okay, this one was just plain goofy. The other ones will be much more epic, I swear! Please review with opinions/suggestions/death threats! :D_


	3. December 3rd

**Author****'****s ****Note:**_I __like __this __one. __I __have __no __idea __why._

_Probably because it's mostly Jade, who I love writing about. And there's Andre, who I love but don't write about nearly enough. And when I do write him, I make him drunkenly make out with Beck._

_But that's another story entirely._

**Character(s):** _Jade, __Cat, __Tori, __Andre_

**Pairing(s):** _Catorade __friendship, __Jandre __friendship_

* * *

><p><strong>December 3rd, 2011<strong>

Jade, for once, was somewhat satisfied with her life. Her father and his fluffy new wife had gone to some business dinner, and Jade didn't even have to tell him she wasn't going. He practically forbade it.

Like Jade would have wanted to sit around all night and listen to people who were alive when Family Matters was on talk about politics and how she looked like every single thing that was wrong with the world anyway.

Though she wouldn't have complained about getting some free food. Unless it was suckish. Or it was pasta with shrimps that still had their disgusting little tails. Which was still suckish.

But Jade was going to take advantage of having the house to herself, without her stepmother telling her to turn her music down because she gets chronic headaches and her father just grumpily staring at her as if he was wondering where he went wrong. Curled up in the leather recliner her dad usually occupied practically every second he was at the house, Jade rested her cup of lethally hot tea on the table next to it and picked up her book. She was willing to admit, Edgar Allen Poe's Tell Tale Heart was an odd choice of literature to read in December, but she always did like stories with a happy ending.

While Jade was busy wondering whether or not she could hide a chopped up corpse under her floorboards without it stinking up the place, the doorbell rung about fifteen times.

If there was one thing Jade hated, it was doorbells.

Well, Jade hated many, many things, but her most hated things changed periodically, depending on her mood or the situation.

And that is the story of why Jade currently hated doorbells.

She considered ignoring it, but the person behind the incessant ringing could very well be the delivery dude, the package in his hands containing the purse she bought off the Internet. That was supposed to be Cat's Christmas present and she didn't want it being left on her porch by some lazy delivery chump. After all, it was drizzling and fur products shouldn't be left out in the rain.

Cat liked bunnies, right?

Letting out a groan, Jade got out of the chair and made her way to the door, where the mystery guest was still ringing the bell, as if they thought she had

the attention span of a goldfish and would forget they rung the doorbell of they didn't keep doing it every half second. She threw the door open, ready to rip off the head of whoever was there, but then saw she'd have to rip off two heads.

"Hi, Jade!" Cat happily chirped, the pom pom on the end of her Santa Claus hat bobbing as she bounced on the heels of her feet. "It's snowing outside!"

Tori just stood there and gave Jade a quick smile before telling Cat, "I think that was just rain."

"Don't be a humbug!"

"Uh, Cat, that's not an-"

"Jade!" Cat cried, interrupting Tori. "Tori and I are going caroling!"

Jade knew where that was going, so she almost immediately said, "NO."

Cat's grin faltered. "What?"

"Do not even think about asking me to go caroling with you," Jade snapped, hand clutching the door, ready to slam it in their faces. "I'm perfectly content with staying indoors and not getting pneumonia from getting rained on."

"Oh, come on, Jade," Tori started, red painted fingernails tapping against her crossed arms, "it's barely drizzling and it'll be fun."

Why did Tori wanna freeze her boobs off just to sing some stupid songs about vehicular man slaughter involving the elderly and figgy pudding when she could do that at school on Monday, in the nice warm school? "You said no at first and Cat started crying, didn't she?"

"... Not the point! We knew you were going to be alone tonight, so we thought you'd like to come with us."

"Do I have to wear an ugly sweater that looks like someone's grandmother knitted it to come with you?"

Tori looked down at her sweater and, not even trying to hide her offended tone, said, "My grandmother did knit this!"

Oh, she was just too easy to mess with.

"You know, we were trying to be nice, but I guess Cat and I will just go without you." Tori shrugged, arms crossed. "I guess it's for the best. You'd probably hold us back anyway."

Jade's smirk disappeared. "Oh, really? And why's that?"

Tori shook her head like it was nothing. "Oh, no reason. If you're so scared to sing next to us, then the lack of confidence you have in your voice is going to show."

Jade was back in the house to get her umbrella and jacket before the word 'show' could completely escape the Latina's lips.

Tori looked surprised, but her smile showed it was a good surprise. "Wow. I didn't think that would actually work."

Blink. "What would work?"

"... Nothing, Cat."

* * *

><p>"I wonder why so many people closed their doors when we started singing."<p>

"Oh, I don't know, Cat. Maybe because we're only three days into December and it's raining outside."

"That doesn't matter! I start getting into the Christmas spirit after Halloween!"

Jade shook her head and leaned back farther into the recliner she had thrown herself on. They had to have gone to five hundred houses. At least Jade thought it felt like they had, since she had slipped on some high heeled boots, which were the first shoes she could find. She hadn't wanted Tori to be on her porch and get Tori germs all over it any longer than she had to.

"And besides, some people were into it," Tori said, sitting with Cat on the floor by the toasty fireplace. "That nice elderly lady gave us some cookies."

"She gave us oatmeal raisin. Those barely count as cookies," Jade told her, not even looking at her as she kicked off her boots and threw them at the wall diagonal to her comfy chair.

"Hey now, no need to throw your footwear at my wall," Andre called out as he emerged from the kitchen with a tray, containing four mugs of Belgian cocoa that he made his mother buy so he wouldn't have to keep smuggling it from the Vega house.

"Thanks for letting us hang out for a while," Tori said, smiling as she eagerly

grasped one of the mugs between her freezing fingers.

As Cat took one off the tray as well, Andre told Tori, "People who give me an impromptu holiday concert on my front porch in the rain deserve not to freeze their nubs off."

Tori and Cat laughed at that. Jade didn't laugh, of course, because she was pretty sure the human anatomy didn't contain any nubs, but she willingly accepted the mug of hot chocolate he handed her. She hated chocolate drinks, but she was so cold she would have drunk warm donkey pee.

Okay, maybe she wasn't that cold.

Thinking about warm beverages made her realize she left her tea at home, and it was probably cold and chizzy by then.

Actually, she left the fireplace going too. If her house burned down, she'd never hear the end of it from her father.

While Cat began yapping to Tori about unicorns or Justin Bieber or whatever stuff Cat talked about that Jade never paid much attention to, Andre gently took a seat on the arm of the recliner, the remaining cup of cocoa in his hands. "Seriously, you guys were amazing."

Jade took a sip of her cocoa before quietly saying, "Thanks." She wasn't one to be polite, but Andre was one of the few people in the world that didn't make Jade give up hope for humanity. And he did make her Belgian cocoa. That was cool too.

"So, why'd you agree to go with them?"

"What?"

"Come on, I know you didn't go without a fight."

Jade barely shrugged to that. "Tori was being a gank, so I went to one up her."

Andre nodded as he brought his mug of Belgian goodness to his lips. "That seems most likely, but is it possible that you went because, I don't know, you wanted to have fun?"

"I hate fun," Jade bitterly said, slumping farther back into the chair.

"Yeah, but you hate everything." Andre rested his arm on top of the back of the chair and leaned down so he was a little closer to her. "I saw you smile when you were singing before."

"Harris, I will dump this piping hot and admittedly delicious liquid on your pants if you keep talking."

"Dang, girl." Andre stopped talking, but he stayed at his spot on the arm of her chair (she hereby claimed it as hers, whenever she came back to Andre's house) and enjoyed the peaceful moment with his lady friends.

Jade kind of liked being there too, not that she'd ever say that out loud.

Maybe caroling wasn't so bad after all. Jingle Bells was no Tell Tale Heart, but at least she knew that she could sing it better than Tori.

* * *

><p>I love Tell Tale Heart.<p>

That really speaks out about how weird I am, doesn't it?

Okay! Please review and leave suggestions, if you want! I love hearing what you guys have to say!


	4. December 4th

**Author's Notes:** _This was a new one, cuz I've never exactly written for Trina, and I don't think I've ever really written for Tori, but I do like both their characters, so I wanted to give writing for them a shot. They're not my favorite characters, but I certainly do like them. So let's try this out, okay? :)_

****Character(s):** **_Tori and Trina_

**Pairing(s):** _Torina sisterly love and chizz._

* * *

><p><strong>December 4th, 2011<strong>

It was Sunday, and Tori's parents were out of town, so as long as she avoided Trina, she could have a good morning, right?

Well, she could have. If she didn't feel as if she had shoved two garden slugs up her nose the night before.

After managing to get her achy self out of bed, she hobbled over to her vanity and took in the weepy eyed, snotty nosed, paler than the average Latina girl looking back at her with squinted eyes. Maybe walking around from house to house in the freezing rain wearing nothing but a thin sweater her grandmother knitted wasn't Tori's brightest idea.

"Gnuuuuuh," Tori raspingly groaned, sticking her tongue out at her unsightly, sick reflection. "You have seen brighter Sundays, Tori Vega." She stumbled back over to her bed, and grabbed the tissue box off of her bedside table. After blowing her nose about three times and feeling no difference at all, she threw the tissues in the waste basket and tossed her covers back over her head so she could die in peace.

"Toooorriiii!"

Too bad as long as Trina was around, peace was nonexistent.

Tori's throat hurt too bad to yell back at Trina, so she simply ignored her and let out a few hacking coughs. Just as she found the sweet spot in her bed again, her comforter was whisked off of her person.

"Tori! Didn't you hear me shouting for you?" Trina demanded, tossing the covers bunched up in her hands on the floor. "I can't find the toenail clippers and I've got a nasty-"

"Trina," Tori interrupted, turning to face her, still lying down. "Please don't shout at me. I don't feel good… I think I'm sick."

"Oh." That seemed to calm her down a bit. She almost seemed sympathetic. "That's jank."

Tori closed her eyes, silently praying that Trina would just leave her be. "Yeah."

"… Are you gonna find the clippers for me or not?"

Tori sat up and looked at her sister, momentarily at a loss for words, but she eventually found a choice few. "I'm not going to find the clippers for you!"

Trina looked appalled, throwing her hands in the air. "Then what good are you?"

"I need to get rest," Tori attempted to explain to her thick-skulled sister, her voice fading fast on her. "Can't you fix your freakish feet later and get me some soup or something?" She coughed into her elbow and wheezed, "It'd be nice to have someone to take care of me."

Trina's expression was blank with confusion. "Why would I take care of you when you're all phlegmy and gross?"

"Because I took care of you when you got your wisdom teeth taken out?"

"... No, that doesn't seem like a good enough reason."

"Because you're my sister and we love each other and you don't want me to feel bad?"

"... That's not good enough either."

Tori sighed. She didn't want to have to resort to what she was about to say, but she remembered it was Trina she was dealing with, so she knew it was probably necessary. "Because if you don't, I'll get Cat to mass text every guy at Hollywood Arts and tell them you have an incurable lip fungus?"

"... Do you like vegetable soup or chicken noodle?"

Tori sniffled and flopped onto her other side, facing the window. "Chicken noodle."

She could hear Trina's heels clack down the hall and she smiled to herself when she also heard her stumble down the steps.

/ /

About nine minutes later, Trina came back up the steps, a bed tray with a soup bowl on it in her hands. "Here's your smelly soup," Trina grumbled, setting the tray in front of Tori, who had propped herself up on her massive amount of pillows.

Tori weakly smiled, sniffling as she took the spoon off the tray. "Thanks, Trina." She looked down at the soup for the first time, frowning as soon as she observed what was in it. "Uh, what _is_ this?"

Trina shrugged, not seeing the problem. "It's homemade chicken noodle soup. Y'know, like Mom makes."

Tori looked back up at her sister. "No, this is _not_ like Mom's chicken noodle soup. This is uncooked spaghetti, a celery stalk and a fried chicken leg in a bowl of lukewarm water."

Trina gasped, looking beyond offended. "You are so picky!" She snatched the bowl into her hands and said, "This soup is perfectly fine!"

"Oh, really?"

"Yes!"

Eyebrow raised, Tori held out the spoon to her. "Then you eat some."

Trina looked down at her bowl of 'soup', then back at Tori, then back at the 'soup'. "Uh… I think there's some canned soup in the pantry." She scurried off again, leaving Tori to shake her head in a strange mixture of disbelief and amusement.

/ /

After bringing up a bowl that contained actual soup, Trina sat it down on the tray table again. It actually looked edible, so Tori gave Trina a small smile. "Thanks, Trina."

Trina nodded, and by the look on her face, Tori couldn't tell if she was annoyed by having to do something for somebody that wasn't her or if she was just acting like that so it wouldn't make her look like anybody else mattered in her life but her. "Whatever. Just try not to choke on it, 'cause I know Mom and Dad are gonna blame it on me if you die."

Sometimes Trina reminded Tori of a less frightening, but even more obnoxious version of Jade.

Trina looked like she was about to walk away, but she stopped herself and pointed to the bowl. "I-I noticed there wasn't any celery in the canned stuff, so I chopped some up and put it in there." She shrugged and quietly said, "I remembered you like it in your soup."

Tori looked down and indeed did see that there were little chunks of celery in the soup. That also explained the celery stalk that had been in the soup Trina made herself.

It was sad to say, but that was probably the nicest thing Trina had ever done for Tori when she was sick. But Tori knew by then that any gesture of genuine kindness from Trina shouldn't be overlooked. "Thank you, Trin. That was very nice of you." Tori smiled at her sister, who just sort of shrugged. "And I'm sure your… homemade soup would have been very good."

"I know." She walked off, but stopped in the doorway and turned around to give her a small smile. "Get well soon, baby sister."

And that's when she left.

Another thing that made Tori compare Trina to Jade?

Deep down, she had a good spot.

It was buried under an inflated ego, but it was there.


	5. December 5th

**Author's Note: **_This chapter was fun. Cat and Andre hanging out is cute to write. He's so cool and she's so... Cat._

**Character(s):** _Cat, Andre, Anthony (the music teacher from A Christmas Tori)_

**Pairing(s):** _Candre friendship_

* * *

><p><strong>December 5th, 2011 <strong>

Cat was confused. When she arrived at Hollywood Arts in the morning, she stood by Tori's locker and waited to talk to her. She had the funniest story to tell her about yesterday, when she took her brother to church and he took off his-

The five minute warning bell rang. That confused Cat even more. Tori was always there before the five minute wanting bell! Where was she?

She almost considered leaving for their first class without her, which she hated to do since they always walked to their Songwriting class together, but she saw Andre pass by, so she pranced over to him. "Hi, Andre!"

Andre, who had been too busy listening to his PearPod to notice her at first, pulled his earbuds out. "How's it goin', Little Red?"

Cat giggled, like she always did when Andre called her the nickname she loved so very much, but suddenly remembered there was no time for giggling. Tori was missing! "Hey, do you know where Tori is? I haven't seen her anywhere! She didn't even go to her locker or anything." She pointed at the illuminated locker, as if that was proof. "Look, no Tori!"

Andre nodded. "Yep, that locker is definitely sans Tori." He unplugged his earbuds, knowing good and well that he wasn't going to be listening to any music anytime soon with Cat around, and told her, "She texted me this morning and told me she wasn't feeling good, so she's staying home today."

Staying home? "Phooey!" Cat looked down at her Ked clad feet and pouted. "Songwriting class is no fun without her!"

Andre wrapped an arm around her shoulder and began leading her to class, because he figured she'd be so consumed with momentary sadness that she'd be late if he didn't. "Come on now, it won't be so bad. I'm sure she'll be back by tomorrow."

"Aw." She knew he was right, but still... "But Tori and I were going to partner up to work on our next project! And now I'm gonna have to work alone..."

Andre hated to see Cat so sad, she was his friend after all, but what could he do? Fly over to Tori's house and wiggle his fingers over her to cure her of her ailment? Even he wasn't that cool.

"Look, Cat," Andre began, taking his arm away from Cat as they were several feet away from the door to her music class. "My gym class is cancelled 'cause of the rain. I didn't really have anything better to do and I'm pretty tight with Anthony, so I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I-"

He couldn't even finish his offer, due to Cat hugging him so hard he was pretty sure he was going to lose his gravy. "Yaaaaaay! You are the best friend in the history of ever!"

Andre chuckled, giving her a one armed hug back. "Yeah, I have been told that before."

"Really?"

"No, but I'm sure people have thought it."

She finally let him go, only to grab onto his wrists and drag him into the room, as if she thought he was going to change his mind and skedaddle if she didn't. But Andre wouldn't do that.

Well, he considered it, but he wouldn't have gone through with it.

/ /

Before class officially started, Andre had talked to Anthony about the… situation, and while the music teacher thought it was extremely odd, Andre was in his third period Songwriting class and the assignment was the same for both, so he figured it wouldn't hurt to have them work together. And for Andre, that meant he could play Agitated Fluffballs on his PearPhone during third, so that was a win-win in his books.

"Good morning, class," Anthony greeted as he picked an open folder up off his desk and walked up to the front of the room.

"Hi!" Cat greeted a little too loudly, earning a few stares from her classmates. Andre was beginning to see why she couldn't have just found a new partner.

"… Right." Anthony cleared his throat. "As you know, the holiday season is upon us. Some of the greatest classics are inspired by this time of year. Winter Wonderland, Baby It's Cold Outside, Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer-"

"Oooh, my brother got run over by a reindeer once!" Cat exclaimed, raising her hand as if it mattered at that point. "Except my dad keeps telling me that it wasn't a reindeer, but a moose, but it was Christmas Eve, so it had to be a reindeer, and-"

"Anyway," Anthony interrupted, knowing that was the only way to silence his rambling student. "Your assignment this week is to write a completely original song inspired by this time of year. It can be about a certain holiday or just winter in general. Be creative!" He pulled some sheets out of the folder in his hand and started passing them out. "You can jot down any lyrics or notes on these, but really focus on the lyrics."

"Yay, sheet music!" Cat took the last two sheets for her and Andre and scooted her desk closer to his. As the kid behind her asked his partner what rhymed with Kwanza, she asked Andre, "What should we write the song about?"

"Well… I did kind of have an idea for a Christmas song," Andre said, taking the pencil Cat handed to him. "I don't have everything, but I could use some fresh ideas."

"Candy canes!"

"Uh, what about candy canes?"

"Can there be candy canes in the song? I love candy canes! They're like canes, but they're made of candy! Oooh, and my grandpa walks with a cane, but his isn't made out of candy. It's made out of balsa wood."

Andre was about to say he wasn't sure candy canes would fit anywhere in the song, but after thinking it over, he slowly nodded. "Actually, yeah. Yeah, that could work."

Cat squealed and clapped. "Yay, I'm helpful!" She pulled her legs up so she could sit cross legged and looked back at the musician. "What other ideas did you have?"

"Well, the rest of the song isn't solid, but the title sort of came to me a few days ago, when we were decking Hollywood Arts."

"Well, what is it?" Cat eagerly asked, scooting closer and closer to him in excitement. "Cat wanna know!"

Andre smiled at her delight and decided that she'd be a good first person to tell the song title to. Especially since the person he originally wanted to tell it to was out with a cold.

"It's Not Christmas Without You."

* * *

><p><em>We'll just have to see if Anthony like it this time around :)<em>

_Can you guess what Agitated Fluffballs is a spoof of?_

_... You lose._


	6. December 6th

**Author's Note: **_Final day of sick!Tori. Or maybe more. This is probably the last one. _

_I'm indecisive. _

**Character(s): **_Tori, Jade and Beck_

**Pairing(s): **_Bade_

* * *

><p><strong>December 6th, 2011<strong>

Tori, surrounded in a sea of used, wadded up tissues let out a groggy groan as she sat up in her bed. She was starting to feel better than she had for the past two days, but that didn't mean she felt completely better on the third day.

She was starting to forget what 'better' felt like.

She had basically slept for the past three days, and the time she didn't spend sleeping, she spent eating noodle cups, as they had run out of soup on Sunday. Trina had went to the store on Monday after school to get some more, but all she came back with was pomegranate scented body wash, a PearTunes card and Canadian bacon.

None of those things were for Tori.

The noodle cups weren't bad, but she had just had so many of them... She was surprised she hadn't started hacking them up in phlegmy wads. But nothing else sounded good to her, so noodles in a cup was pretty much her only bet unless she wanted to go out and get her own soup.

And Tori was pretty sure she'd die behind the wheel of the car before she could even manage to pull out of the driveway if she did that, so she figured she might as well not even try.

So it was time for more noodle cups. Yay.

She fumbled her way out of bed, combing her messy brunette curls out of her face as she slipped her slipper boots on. The floor was cold. Wah.

She had barely made it through her bedroom door when the doorbell rang and turned her mild headache into a migraine.

"Uuugh." Trina had probably thrown her house key at an ugly girl again. It would explain why it took her so long to get home from school. Seriously, what did she ever do to deserve being born into a family with an immature beast as her sister?

Tori took her time walking down the steps, since she liked making Trina wait and she still felt too weak to walk any faster. After the occasional rings turned into rapid, heads splitting ones, Tori almost thought it was Cat. But lo and behold, when she opened the door, she was greeted with the last person she'd ever expect to come to her house.

"Jade?"

Arms crossed, Jade leaned on the door frame and looked reluctant to be there. "You look like a hobo," was her greeting of choice.

Beck, standing closely behind her, put a hand on Jade's back, held up his free hand in a feeble wave and said, "I'm here too, but thanks for not acknowledging my existence."

Tori sniffled and gave Beck a small smile. "You know I'm always happy to have you here, Beck-"

"Yeah, that's no flappin' secret, boyfriend rubber."

"... I was also going to say that, Jade, I only noticed you at first because it's easy to spot things when they generally don't belong there." Tori combed a hand through her hair, realizing she probably did look like a hobo. "And since you only come over to my house when you want something or you want to hurt my feelings, could you save it for later? I'm not exactly-" She paused to cough for a solid fifteen seconds, "-feeling on top of things right now. "

"Actually, that's why we're here." Beck held onto Jade's shoulders and basically led her into the Vega residence. "We brought you some vegetable soup from the Chowder Factory."

"I thought they just made clam chowder?"

Beck shrugged. "They broadened their horizons."

As she nodded, he looked over at Jade, who Tori just noticed had a paper Chowder Factory bag clutched in her hand. With an expression that could only be described as stern, Beck looked at his girlfriend, silently telling her to surrender the bag to the sick Latina. It wasn't necessarily that Jade reeeeally wanted the vegetable soup, though she wouldn't have complained because even she liked soup, but she just hated giving Tori Vega anything.

"Jade?"

"What?"

Looks like he'd have to say it. "Give Tori the soup."

She contemplated giving her the soup by dumping it down her sweatpants, but she knew Beck probably wouldn't take her to Top Nacho if she did, and the smell of the soup did make her hungry, so she reluctantly held the bag out to Tori.

Tori weakly smiled. "Thanks, you two." She tried to take the bag, but Jade still had a good grip on the handle, and it was almost if she was refusing to let go. Which she might have been. But she eventually released her grip and Tori finally got her stupid soup.

Jade decided then and there it was now stupid, so there.

Tori pulled the lidded paper bowl and plastic spoon out of the bag and slowly settled on one of the halves of the couch. Jade and Beck remained standing. "This smells sooo good."

And stupid.

"Seriously, thank you. This is just what I needed."

"Glad to be of service." Beck smiled and tucked his hands into his pocket. "Actually, there's another reason why we're here."

"No there isn't," Jade said a little too quickly.

"Yes, there is," Beck told her, then looked back at the soup slurping Tori. "Look, Jade wanted to tell you something about last Saturday."

Last Saturday? Tori stopped mid-slurp. The night she got sick? What about it?

Beck gave his girlfriend another look and she gave into that one easier. Mostly because she wanted to cram a chalupa down her throat as soon as possible. "Fine. I'm sorry, okay?" she said as an exasperated sigh.

"For?"

If Beck wasn't so hot, she would have punched him in the face. "For pushing you into a puddle when you tried to get under my umbrella. And for pulling you in front of me when that one hairy guy who answered the door sneezed all over the place. And for saying your hair looks like a rat's nest."

Tori's brows furrowed in confusion. "You never said that."

"That's because I was just thinking it now," Jade quietly said, crossing her arms once again. "I say so many rude things, it's hard to remember the ones I only thought about."

Beck closed his eyes and rested his head in his hand. He was used to her harshness by then, but he still couldn't help but wish she'd stop when she almost starts sounding nice.

"... That was closest thing to an apology I've ever gotten from you." Tori smiled. "And I accept."

"Oh, yay. I was worried there for a second," Jade deadpanned.

Beck figured they should probably leave Tori and her soup be, so he said, "We should probably get going."

Tori nodded. "Okay. Thanks again, you guys."

"Whatever." Jade headed for the door she had never bothered to close, wanting to get away from the Tori germs she had mentioned not wanting to catch three days ago, leaving Beck and Tori to watch her walk off.

Tori looked down at her soup, then up at Beck. "How much did you have to bribe her to get her to do that?"

"The funny thing is I didn't." Beck faintly smirked and added, "I just said she could do it and she didn't even put up a fight. I think she actually felt bad about it."

Tori smiled a small smile. "Aww. Jade has feelings."

"Who'd've thunk it, huh?" Beck grinned and ran a hand over her lamely combed hair. "Get better, Tor."

"I'll do my best."

With one last goodbye, Beck walked out to his car, which Jade had already started for him. He got into his seat, gripped the wheel, then looked over at Jade. "I'm proud of you."

"You'd better be more than proud. That was horrifying."

"Was giving up that soup really that hard for you?"

She knew Beck was kidding, but she still nodded.

"Want me to get you some soup?"

"No. Soup is stupid."

"Soup it is."

That boy could read her like a book.

* * *

><p><em>There isn't a Soup Plantation where I live, but The Chowder Factory is a parody mix of that and the Cheesecake Factory. Or maybe it's just a place with a similar name that sells chowders. Now featuring soup.<em>

_Chowder's a funny word._

_Please review and leave suggestions, if you will! Hopefully I can use some of your guys' suggestions soon, cuz I got some great ones! :D_


	7. December 7th

**Author's Note:** _Sorry this one is up later than usual, I stayed after school to study for a test and then I went Christmas shopping. I can't write fanfiction ALL the time, ya know! ;D_

_So due to the lack of time, this one might be more rushed than the previous six, but it leads up to some important chizz, so keep up!_

**Character(s):** _Andre, Cat, Tori, Beck_

**Pairing(s):** _Slight mention of Bade, onesided Andre/Someone…_

* * *

><p><strong>December 7th, 2011<strong>

"Oh my gobs, Andre, this song is amazing!" Cat exclaimed, hugging Andre from behind, since there was a keyboard in front of him.

"Give yourself some credit, Little Red," Andre said with a smile. "You helped a lot. I couldn't have done this without you."

"Yay, my dad was wrong! I'm not useless!" Cat clapped her hand and took a seat next to him before she took her recording headphones off and put them back.

Anthony was giving each of his students a chance to record their song in the school's recording studio for him if they were done. He was putting off them performing them in front of their peers until later in the month, before the break, but he still needed something to mark the grade off of. Tori had come back that day, healthy as a duck, and Andre had wanted her to join him and Cat in their songwriting, but to his disappointment, she decided to work with Courtney Van Cleef, whose partner dropped the class when they found out they were stuck with her.

Tori was such a kind soul.

"I can't wait to give this to Anthony!" Cat took the flash drive with their song on it out of the computer and gave it a good luck kiss before she tucked it into the pocket of her 'short pants', as Sikowitz called them. "Let's go!"

Once they put everything in its proper place, they began the journey back to Anthony's classroom, which was all the way across the school. It was quiet at first, and Cat hated the quiet, so she struck up a conversation. "What gave you the idea for that song?"

Andre had been off in his own little world, so he hadn't heard that. "Hmm?"

"What inspired that song?"

"Uh, hanging up the decorations around here. I think I already said that."

"No, I meant like the exact moment. There had to be something that stood out that made you want to write a Christmas love song!"

Andre tensed up, his calm smile faltering. "No, there doesn't! Sometimes things just come to me!"

Cat frowned. "Oh, okay. I-I just thought, y'know, there was so much emotion in the song, that maybe-"

"Maybe what? Maybe I'm in love with someone and wrote that song for her?" Whoa, what was up with Andre? He doesn't usually act so... wonky.

Well, he acted like that when he recorded that song with Jade, but Jade said he must have had a brain virus that week. Maybe he had another...

"Why are you yelling at me?" Cat frantically asked, suppressing her urge to say 'what's that supposed to mean?' instead.

"I'm not, I just-" Andre stopped himself from finishing that and, looking desperate to escape the topic, said, "I need to get some chocolate beverage," and ran in the opposite direction.

Cat stood there and watched him run off, unsure of where she had gone wrong. She was smart enough to know that sometimes she said things that didn't settle well with people, but she really couldn't find what was so wrong with asking Andre what inspired him to write that beautiful song.

All she could manage to come up with was summed up in a few choice words she mumbled to herself.

"And people think _I'm_ an emotional mess."

/ /

"Have you seen Andre?" Tori asked as she sat down next to Cat in Sikowitz's class. "I haven't seen him all day."

Cat shrugged. She couldn't get his freak out to leave her usually easily distractible train of thought. Something was off about it, but she just couldn't put the pieces together.

"I think he has a brain virus."

Tori raised an eyebrow but quickly dismissed it as Cat's usual nonsense and watched as Sikowitz climbed in through the window with a bicycle tire around his neck.

She could always text Andre later.

But it didn't help that when she did, he didn't answer any of them.

/ /

Beck, his PearPhone perched on the arm of his couch, looked at the time on his billiards ball clock. It was almost midnight.

He knew that if he didn't get his ruggedly handsome sleep (beauty sleep is for girls), he'd regret it, but he and Jade had been text fighting for about five hours. He had forgotten what they were even fighting about two hours ago, but he had too much invested into this battle. No way was he losing.

Still, it wouldn't hurt if he just shut his eyes, right?

Combing his hair out of his face, he slouched down slightly, resting his head on the back of the couch. He looked up at the ceiling and his eyes were almost shut when a loud, rapid noise jarred him out of his state of relaxation.

Beck wasn't really scared, since nothing could do that, but he sure as halibut was startled. That totally doesn't count as scared.

After several seconds, he determined either somebody was knocking at his door or somebody was hitting his RV with a shovel. And after groggily getting up and opening the door, he officially determined it was the first one.

He was hoping it had been the second one. In that case, he could just call the cops and let them deal with the shovel wielding fiend while he laid on his couch some more.

"Andre?" Beck stifled a yawn. "Dude, what are you doing here? Where were you at school? And why aren't you wearing any pants?"

Andre, wearing a t-shirt and boxers and looking like he was about to lose his chizz any second, propped his bike on Beck's recreational vehicle and walked in without bothering to wait for Beck to invite him in. "I forgot how to put pants on."

Beck shut the door behind him. "And yet you were able to ride a bike while holding onto a gallon of... chocolate beverage?"

Andre sat down on the couch, chocolate beverage in his hands. "I figured you wouldn't have any Belgian cocoa."

Beck considered making a joke regarding the possibility of Andre's grandmother's insanity being genetic, but decided against it. He seemed upset enough already. "So, uh, is there a reason you're here in the middle of the night in your underwear with a jug of chocolate beverage and acting like a lunatic?"

"I couldn't sleep. I've got too much on my mind." Andre chugged down some cold chocolatey goodness and looked at Beck. "I really need to talk to someone about it, do I wanted to go to my best friend." Beck was almost touched until he added, "But I can't tell Tori this, so you're the next best thing."

"That makes me feel special," Beck said, half sarcastically, as he was going to chalk Andre's brashness up to his nervous state. Nevertheless, he sat down next to Andre and took his gigantic beverage of chocolateness away from him so he wouldn't drown himself in it. "Well, you came all this way. So what's wrong?"

"I… I'm in love with Tori."

And the clock struck midnight.

* * *

><p><em>Well, duuuuh, Andre.<em>

_That was a weird sentence to end on, but I added that so I can continue this the next day without having it be hours later… Which is necessary, since Andre's got some 'splainin' to do! Read up on that tomorrow!_

_... I like how they say 'chocolate beverage'. That's probably evident, if you read this, though._


	8. December 8th

**Author's Note:** _Be sure you read yesterday's for this one to make sense. Read all of them while you're at it. I'll try to respond to reviews today, cuz they've been building up for a while and I love talking to you guys, so let's see if I can catch up :)_

_And after this one, I might finally be able to get to your suggestions tomorrow or later! :D_

**Character(s):** _Beck, Andre, Tori_

**Pairing(s):** _One-sided Tandre, mentioned Bade_

* * *

><p><strong>December 8, 2011<strong>

"Okay, let's see if I've got this. You're in love with Tori."

"Y-Yeah."

"... So?"

Andre gave Beck an incredulous look. "_So_, this is a big deal!"

"Why?" Beck shrugged. "I always thought you were in love with Tori."

"Always? How long is always?"

"... What was the date of the big showcase last year?"

Andre took his chocolate beverage back and though he didn't drink any, he felt great comfort just holding it. "I didn't fall in love with her when we first met, man. That's just cheesy. I-I guess it happened over time, gradually."

Beck nodded, stifling back a yawn. "Okay, so when'd you realize you loved her?"

"Last Thursday. Cat had just lit me up and Tori started laughing." Andre hugged the gallon jug like a pillow. "She just looked... And... With the lights and all..."

Andre made some groaning noises, and Beck didn't know whether it was from heartache over Tori or a stomachache over how much chocolate beverage he drank.

Andre sighed, running a hand along the handle of the jug. "For a few days I kinda told myself it was just a crush and I'd get over it, and I almost fooled myself. But then I wrote this Christmas song for school and Cat was helping me with it and she asked me who inspired it... I wrote Tori a love song without even realizing it."

"You've written tons of songs for Tori before," Beck pointed out.

"Yeah, for her to _sing_. Not songs that are actually _for__her_," Andre emphasized, so Beck would hopefully get the point. He did. "I can't keep my emotions inside. Once I feel something, I have to let it out and share it with the world. I don't think I can hold it much longer! I'm losing my wonk over this, man!"

He said that as if it wasn't already obvious.

"What am I supposed to do, Beck?"

The only resolution Beck could think of was, "Ask her out."

Andre looked at him as if he had just suggested jumping off a cliff or giving up ketchup forever. "Do you not see why this whole fiasco is bad?"

"... Fiasco?"

"Tori's my best friend." Yeah, that still made Beck feel special. "What if I ask her out and she says no? Our friendship will be ruined and I'll have to cross the border and live out my days as one of those Mariachi dudes just to escape that level of humiliation!"

"Or you could cross the other border and become a lumberjack. My uncle Sal lives in Saskatchewan and he could totally hook you up with a sweet ax-"

"Dude, could you please try to be helpful?"

Beck held his hands up in defense to the angry Andre. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry." He leaned forward in his seat next to Andre, resting his elbows on his knees. "Look, I know asking out a girl you really like is rough, and sometimes she'll threaten to stab you with a rusty pair of scissors if you ever talk to her again, but you've got to try things before you pack your bags and run off to Mexico."

Andre looked down at his lap and quietly said, "I just don't know how I'd even tell her."

"You could always run up to her and start passionately kissing her. That usually works in movies."

If looks could kill, Beck Oliver would have been dead and buried by then.

"Right. Not helpful." How helpful did Andre want him to be? It was almost one in the morning and he hadn't even gotten that much sleep the night before... Beck was nearly useless when he was tired.

"Anything I can do that wouldn't make her cop father _taser_ me?" Andre asked, bringing the opening of the jug up to his lips.

Beck, after running a hand through the mane he called hair, looked back at Andre and remembered something. "You said you wrote a song for her, right?"

Andre nodded. "Well, Cat helped a lot, but she mostly just wanted me to write a song about candy canes."

"Uh, right." Beck went back to his idea, saying, "Well, maybe you could get her alone, play the song for her and... And maybe see where it goes from there."

Andre nodded slowly, thinking that over. "Yeah, yeah..." If there was one way Andre knew how to express himself, it was through his music. And Tori did love to hear him sing...

Beck gave the musician a pat or two on the shoulder. "Feeling better?"

Too deep in thought on how he would go about it, Andre merely nodded.

"Good, great. Hey, it's getting pretty late. Maybe you should go to bed and sleep on it." And then he could finally get some sleep and deal with his text fight with Jade in the morning. Win win.

"Okay, yeah. Thanks." Andre stood up and started toward the door.

Beck followed. "Glad to help. Anything else before you go?"

"Yeah... Could you go to the store and get me some Belgian cocoa?"

And that's how Andre ended up getting the door of the Silver Streak slammed in his face.

/ /

**New Text Message to Tori**

**8:43 AM**

_hey, got a little surprise for you. meet me in the black box theater after third?_

**New Response from Tori**

**8: 46 AM**

_sure! it'd better be nice and surprisey! :)_

/ /

Andre sat at his desk, trying to concentrate on his game of Agitated Fluffballs, but that was proving to be extremely difficult, as he was too busy thinking about what would happen after the bell rung.

Since he and Cat had finished their song early, that left him with a free third period while a few of those who hadn't finished yet worked on their pieces. He could see Anthony sitting at his desk, headphones plugged into his laptop. He was probably listening to the finished songs that needed to be graded, but Andre wasn't too concerned with that. What he was concerned with, however, was Tori's reaction.

Would she like it? Would she think it was just another song he wrote? Would she throw up after hearing it?

He hoped that at least the last one wouldn't happen.

"Andre," he heard being called out. He looked up to see Anthony gesturing for him to come to his desk. He must have finished grading the song.

The musician walked up to the desk, expecting the usual praises, but was met with a much worse fate.

"I got a _D_?"

/ /

How could Andre's song have gotten a D? Anthony said it wasn't Cat's vocals, as they were perfect and they weren't graded on those anyway. No, there had to be something wrong with the lyrics…

What could be wrong with them? There had to be something wrong with them. Andre thought they were perfect, but Anthony knew what he was doing, so that meant he must have gone wrong somewhere.

He had found Cat heading to class and apologized for what had happened, since Anthony had already told her about the grade. She glumly told him not to blame himself and that it was probably her fault. Their whole conversation was far too depressing and unamusing to write down.

As Andre approached the doors leading to the Black Box, a terrible thought occurred to him. Maybe… Maybe he was losing his touch.

No, no. Andre knew he was talented. He wasn't going to let one little bump of the road make him give up on his dreams.

But he couldn't possibly play a song that was a few points short of an F for Tori. Especially not the song he wrote _for_ her… Though he couldn't just leave her in the theater. He said he had a surprise for her and he couldn't stand to disappoint her.

But he did realize she'd probably be disappointed if her surprise was a big fat nothing sandwich.

Pushing the doors open, he was greeted by the sight of the perfect cheek-boned girl sitting in one of the folding chairs, playing around with her cell phone. When she heard the door, she looked up, grinned, and then tucked her phone in her bag. "Hey, Andre." She walked over to him, looking pretty excited. "So where's that surprise you were telling me about?"

"Uh… I have it. It's … It's a thing and everything."

"I bet it is." Tori laughed, tapping him on the nose with the tip of her finger. "Soooo?"

"Soooo…." Andre patted the pockets of his hoodie, as if some magical gift would appear, but unfortunately didn't. So he did the first thing that came to mind. Besides have a panic attack over his terrible song.

He unzipped his black and purple striped hoodie and said, "I-I remembered how much you liked this hoodie-"

"I don't think I've ever actually said that."

"-So I thought you'd like it." Left in only a white t-shirt, he held out the hoodie with a small, uncomfortable smile.

Tori either didn't notice the discomfort or chose to ignore it. "Oh, wow," Tori said, taking the hoodie and giving him a smile. "Thank you! This is a… _unique_ surprise!" Folding it over her arms, she looked back at Tori with warm brown eyes. "I should probably get to class."

"Yeah, mhmm. Me too." Tori began walking toward the door, but stopped and slowly turned around. "Is there a _reason_ you gave me your hoodie?"

"… No." Man, Andre hated lying. But that at least made her leave, and left him alone with his thoughts.

His Christmas song to Tori had gotten the worst grade he had ever gotten on a musical project. That had to be some kind of sign, right?

And the worst part?

Andre was out of chocolate beverage.


	9. December 9th

**Author's Notes:** _This is not one of my longer (or better) ones, but I have plans tonight for once in my life and I really wanted one with Robbie. We'l see more with Andre and Tori later, but Robbie needs a chance because I've only really written about him once._

_Then again, I don't like Robbie as much, so it's hard to write for him. But there's Jade. Yaaaay._

**Character(s):** _Robbie, Jade, Beck_

**Pairing(s):** _Bade. Sorta._

* * *

><p><strong>December 9th, 2011<strong>

"So, um, Valerie, I know the Holiday Bash isn't for a while, but would you like, maybe to, uh, consider going with me?"

"Oh, sorry, Ronnie. I have plans."

"M-My name's _Robbie_, actually. And it's during school."

"Yeah, but my family's leaving early to go to my grandmother's house over the break."

"But I thought your grandmother lived with you."

"... Fine, I'd just really rather not go with you."

As Valerie walked down the staircase, Robbie remained at the top, feeling absolutely rejected. Y'know, because he just was.

"Even I found that painful to watch, Rob," Rex muttered, though his chuckle said otherwise.

"Oh, hush." Robbie walked down the steps and into the main hallway so he could get to his locker. Since Jade's was right next to his, she was there, putting books into her scissored locker. "Hi, Jade."

"I don't like talking to you."

Well then.

Robbie sighed, walking around her open door so he could actually see her, and vice versa. "Can I at least ask you something?"

"No."

"Not even if you get to insult me and tell me how I do everything wrong?"

"... What can I help you with?"

Robbie rubbed the back of his curly head. "Um, well, I uh-"

"Sorry, I can't cure stupid."

"If you could, Robbie might actually have a chance at being a human being," Rex commented, quickly earning him a trip to Robbie's locker. Population: Rex.

After slamming his baby bottle nipple covered locker shut, he looked back at Jade. "Look, you're a girl, right?"

Jade looked at him for the first time, hand resting on her locker door. "In biological terms, yes. Other terms are questionable."

Robbie just nodded to that, since he wasn't all that sure how to respond. "And you know the kind of things girls like?"

"... I hate those things, but I suppose I know them."

"I really want a date for the Holiday Bash," Robbie explained, crossing his arms uncomfortably. He probably shouldn't have asked Jade something like this, but she was the first friend of his that he saw and he was desperate. "Can you tell me some things girls like in guys so I can... modify myself?"

Jade almost considered taking his glasses off and shoving them up his nose for asking her for a favor, but then she realized something. She could have a little fun with this. And while she hated fun, she loved messing with people. "Sure. Why not."

She started walking toward the staircase and gestured for Robbie to follow her. After they say down, she casually tucked her hands between her knees and looked at the Jewish nerd. "Girls like a guy with power. A guy who calls all the shots and has those smaller than him do his dirty work."

Robbie nodded, taking mental note of that. Whatever it meant.

"They want someone who doesn't remind them of a chicken bone when they hug them. Girls need a man with more... meat." Yeah, that was a non-obvious way to say fat.

Wow. Robbie was learning so many things about women!

"Someone who can give them whatever their hearts desire." Jade nodded, barely able to keep herself from chuckling at the mental image she had. "Yep. Oh, and he needs facial hair. Lots of it. And he has to be good with kids. And woodland creatures. Mostly reindeer. And he has to have good enough judgment to know whether you've been naughty or nice or not."

Robbie's face was covered with confusion. And yet he still didn't understand what Jade was trying to say. "Wow, that's a lot of stuff to remember."

Jade gave him a friendly slap to the back and said, "Tell you what, we'll go to the costume closet in the Black Box and find you something decent to wear."

Robbie's confidence suddenly escalated. "Yeah! I'll have to beat off the ladies with a sack of potatoes!"

"Oh, you'll need a sack alright, Rob."

* * *

><p>"Jade?"<p>

"Hmm?"

"Is there a reason Robbie walked around dressed as Santa Claus for half the day?"

"...That depends."

"On what?"

"Whether or not he told you I did that."

Beck simply handed her the Jet Brew coffee he just bought her and shook his head when she wasn't looking. "How did you convince him to do that?"

Jade shrugged. "I have my ways."

Beck took his own coffee and as they sat down at their table, he told her, "Just tell me one thing."

"Yeah?"

"... Why?"

Jade shrugged. Again. "Why not?"

Beck didn't prod anymore after that. Really, what else was there to elaborate on?

Just the fact that his girlfriend was kind of a freak, that's all.

* * *

><p><em>This, my children, is what we call<em> filler.


	10. December 10th

**Author's Note: **_I am ashamed of last chapter and its obvious fillerness. This one is less terrible :)_

_Remember Wheelos? Those skinny metal hooks with the spinner wheel thing that you would spin along the wire and were completely useless but strangely fun? They were featured on Drake and Josh in My Dinner With Bobo and now in this chapter :)_

_Oh, and thanks to BeckAndJadeForever for the idea of Robbie getting advice from Beck when it comes to the fairer sex. :D_

**Character(s):** _Beck, Andre, Robbie_

**Pairing(s):** _Rondreck friendship, mentions of Bade and one-sided Tandre_

* * *

><p><strong>December 10th, 2011<strong>

"What do you mean you didn't play the song for Tori?"

It was Saturday night and Beck, Andre and Robbie were having a guy's night. Robbie had yet to show up at Beck's RV, so it was just Andre and Beck, who had asked Andre how telling Tori his feelings for her had gone. Not well.

"I couldn't! Anthony basically said my song was terrible!" Andre was lying on the floor, staring up at the ceiling and playing with a Wheelo, while Beck was on his couch, trying to wrap a Christmas present he had bought for his dad. And failing.

"I don't think it's physically possible for you to write a terrible song," Beck commented, sticking three pieces of tape to his red and green mess of wrapping paper. "It's not like the teachers at Hollywood Arts are always the best judge of taste. Sikowitz wore a sweater vest over a cardigan yesterday."

"Yeah, but Helen said Anthony's the best music teacher the school could find. If anyone knows music, it's him." Andre stared at his Wheelo, as if in a trance. "Man, this is addicting."

"So, that's it?" Beck plopped a bow on the lump of paper, as if that would instantly make it pleasing to the eye. It didn't. "One person didn't like your song, so you're never going to tell Tori how you feel."

"It's a sign, Beck." Andre sat up, but still stared at his Wheelo as he made it spin back and forth on the wire. "When the universe tells you something, you gotta listen."

"Really."

"Uh huh."

"So if you got hit by a bus, that'd be the universe's way of telling you that you should die?"

"... No, that's the universe's way of telling you that you should look both ways before crossing the street."

"That is indeed a necessary life lesson." Beck fluffed the bow. That didn't make the present any prettier. "Look man, just because you have one bump in the road doesn't mean-"

"Beck." Andre was finally able to snap himself out of his Wheelo hypnosis and looked at the actor. "I really don't want to talk about this. I came here to hang and get my mind off Tori. Can't we just do that?"

Beck slowly nodded. He could remember how he felt when asking out Jade hadn't gone as he had wanted. Then again, Jade had hit him repeatedly with a monkey fur purse.

But he was sure Andre's emotional pain hurt too.

Beck held up the gift he had tried to wrap and asked, "Can you tell this is an electric nose hair trimmer?"

"I can't even tell that it's a present."

Beck frowned, knowing that was probably the nicest thing Andre could manage to say about his lack of gift wrapping skills. "At least he'll be surprised."

"If he's not horrified."

Beck sat the present back on the couch. "Yeah, that's okay. It's not like I have feelings or anything."

Andre sighed and went back to playing Wheelo. "Sorry, Beck. I'm just in a wonky mood."

"Well, now I am too." Beck looked down at his pitifully wrapped nose hair trimmer. "And so's the present. You made it feel bad about itself."

At that moment, Robbie threw the door to the trailer open and walked in. He was wearing the Santa jacket he had adorned all day yesterday and not carrying Rex. Andre and Beck silently thanked God for that.

Robbie plopped down on the couch next to Beck and glumly said, "Hi."

"Hey, Rob." Andre looked up from the wheel, but kept making it spin. "Why the sour puss?"

"Girls avoid me like I'm a rash."

"Yeah, but how is that different from any other day?"

"… I guess that's not inaccurate."

Those two were just starting to depress Beck. He dated Jade, so he didn't think anything could do that. Speaking of Jade- "So I'm guessing the Santa Claus angle didn't go well?"

Robbie shook his head in disappointment. "The only girls who were willing to talk to me couldn't talk yet."

"Ah. So why are you still wearing the jacket?"

Robbie shrugged. "I got cold." He looked down at Beck's father's present and asked, "What's that?"

"My dad's Christmas present."

"What did you get him? A seizure?"

Now _Robbie_ was insulting his gift wrapping? It must have been worse than he thought.

"You guys are mean when you're sad." Beck tossed the gift on his bed, since it's not like the wrapping could have gotten any worse. "Okay, since this is starting to be the worst guy's night ever, I'm going to make it my duty to cheer you sorry chizzes up."

As he got up and found his keys, Andre tossed his Wheelo on the ground. "I don't wanna move. I just wanna sit on your retro shag rug and sulk."

"Sulk in the car," Beck told him as he walked out the door, expecting his friends to follow. They just sat in silence at first.

"Wow. Dating Jade has made him really bossy," Robbie muttered.

Andre shrugged. "Either that or he's grumpy 'bout his suckish gift wrapping abilities."

/ /

"Frozen yogurt? You thought this would cheer us up?"

"Yeah. Is it working?"

"... A little."

Beck knew it would. Despite what Tori thought, frozen yogurt _does_solve all the world's problems.

The guys were seated at a small table at the closest BlinkBerry, each with their own cup of frozen yogurt. Robbie's was some sort of freakish soy yogurt, but it was close enough.

Robbie poked his pink goop with his spoon, then looked back up at his friends. "Uh, hey, you guys get lots of girls, right?"

Beck and Andre exchanged a look and Andre said, "Define 'lots'."

"Any girl."

"In that case, yeah."

"Mhmm."

"Okay." Robbie nodded and added, "I really want a date for the Holiday Bash, but I don't want to have to buy one online. Not after what happened last time."

Andre and Beck didn't dare question that.

"I'm starting to think Jade's advice wasn't all that good, so do you guys have any tips on getting girls to do something besides laugh when I ask them out?"

Both boys contemplated that for a moment, and after resisting the urge to say 'stop being irritating', Beck spoke up. "If you really want my advice, just don't try too hard."

"... I don't understand."

Beck casually shrugged. "Girls don't want to date a spaz. Just try and relax and things will come naturally."

Robbie poked his yogurt again and muttered, "Maybe for you, with your fluffy hair and charming smile."

… Maybe those qualities made up for his ugly, lumpy Christmas presents.

"Don't write them a suckish song," was the only advice Andre could think to give. "'Cause if you do, then you'll have to give them your favorite sweatshirt instead and then you'll be sad_and_ cold."

Robbie nodded, then took in another spoonful of his soy yogurt.

Beck, after taking a bite of his yogurt, looked around the small shop. There were a lot of girls there. Were they the only guys?

No, wait, there were some dudes.

But they were with their girlfriends.

"We're spending our guy's night eating frozen yogurt and talking about relationships," Beck mused, looking down at his cup of bright pink strawberry fro-yo. He looked back up at Robbie and Andre and asked, "When did we turn into a bunch of nancies?"

Robbie and Andre paused, but merely went back to eating their frozen yogurt.

Every now and then guys needed some time to be nancies and eat pink frozen yogurt. Especially when they've been banned from BuyADate . com, much like Mister Robbie Shapiro.


	11. December 11th

**Author's Note:** _Sorry for more lateness, I wasn't home hardly all day! Hope this is decent!_

**Character(s): **_Jade and Cat_

**Pairing(s):** _Cade friendship_

* * *

><p><strong>December 11th, 2011<strong>

"Jade, your stepmother and I are going out for the day."

"Fantastic. I'll text you when I start to give a flap."

Jade's father's jaw tightened in annoyance at his daughter and her facially pierced ways, but he said nothing in response as he and his latest wife walked out of the house, shutting the door behind them.

Like she needed their company. Or wanted it. She had three episodes of Celebrities Underwater to watch, and if there's one thing Jade actually enjoyed, it was watching idiot reality stars and has-been actors drown.

"Oooh, looks like the Kardashians just lost one of their twenty chizz for brains relatives," Jade chuckled to herself with something that could resemble a smile as she kicked one of her legs over the other. "Looks like plastic surgery doesn't function as a floatation device."

As another celebrity hopped into the water, who Jade figured must have been a housewife of wherever, her PearPhone let out a beep. She paused her program and rolled off the couch to get her phone off the coffee table. She had a new text, and she almost deleted it after she saw all the exclamation points and smiley faces.

**New Message From Cat**

_hiiii! can i come over? i need to wrap xmas presents! :D_

Xmas? Did anybody really still call Christmas 'Xmas'?

**New Response To Cat**

_No._

Jade tossed her phone on the floor and, too lethargic to get back onto the couch, grabbed the remote and made herself comfortable on the carpeted floors as she started watching her show again. The housewife hadn't lasted long, since the moisture was starting to ruin her dye job or some nonsense Jade didn't care about.

Speaking of nonsense that Jade didn't care about, she got another text from a certain redhead.

**New Message From Cat**

_why not? :c_

Jade almost rolled her eyes, but quickly realized Cat couldn't see it. Or maybe her eye rolls were so intense, Cat could still sense them. That was entirely a possibility.

**New Response To Cat**

_Because, I'm watching celebrities drown. Can't you wrap them at your house?_

After that was sent, she realized she hadn't had any lunch, and her father sure as sherbet didn't make anything for her when he and his fluffy wife had lunch. That meant she had to make something herself.

Jade hated doing stuff.

She also hated starving to death.

She only made it halfway to the kitchen before she got another text from Cat.

**New Message From Cat**

_well i would but when my brother sees wrapping paper, he thinks someones gonna wrap him up and sell him for Christmas, and I dont wanna freak him out. at least not until he has his special medicine._

After Jade walked over to the island and opened her dad's laptop, she pulled up the website for Omar's Pizza. Ordering herself some food meant she wouldn't have to actually cook it. And she memorized her dad's credit card number anyway.

But before she placed her order, she groaned and begrudgingly tapped out her response.

**New Response To Cat**

_Fine. Bring Peppy Cola._

/ /

Jade heard the doorbell ring, and she almost thought it was the pizza guy, but she was pretty sure she wouldn't have heard the pizza guy giggling through the door.

Yay, Cat was there.

When she opened the front door, she was greeted by several boxes and about nine rolls of wrapping paper with two pairs of legs sticking out. "Hi!"

"Hey, Cat." Jade leaned against the doorway. "Did you bring the cola?"

A hand with a two liter of Peppy Cola stuck out of the present and paper wad. "Yep!"

Jade grabbed the bottle and stepped out of the doorway. "You can come in then."

The redhead waddled in and after dropping her stuff on the living room couch, she spun around and grinned at her best friend. "Thanks for letting me come over!"

"Whatever." While Cat got prepped for gift wrapping by spreading out everything she needed on the floor, Jade walked into the kitchen to pour herself a glass of cola.

Cat rolled out some paper and placed the boxed gift she got for her father onto it. Before she had a chance to cut the paper, she heard furious bubbling coming from the flat screen TV mounted on the wall in front of her. She looked up and was horrified by what she saw. "Aw. Poor Corey Feldman…"

Jade came back into the room soon enough, holding two glasses of Peppy Cola. She sat down on the couch and placed the other glass on the coffee table where Cat could reach it. "Here."

Cat gratefully smiled and asked, "Can I have a bendy straw?"

"We don't have straws, bendy or non."

"Poo."

Jade was almost relaxed, but the doorbell rang just as she found her permanent but spot on the couch. "Ugh. I hate exerting energy."

Everyone does. Jade knew it. If they didn't, they were just weird.

She sat her drink down, walked past Cat and opened the door. An acne ridden teenage boy held out her pizza. "You paid for this online, right?"

"Uh huh."

"… Don't I get a tip?"

"Stop washing your face with chicken fat." With one flick of the wrist, Jade slammed the door in his face.

She grabbed the box with both hands and dropped it on the coffee table. "Ooooh, pizza!" Cat exclaimed, looking up from taping her dad's gift. "Can I have some?"

"If I eat it all myself, I'm going to gain five hundred pounds, so sure."

"Yay!" Both girls took a slice and dug in, and Cat decided to sit with Jade on the couch. "I love Omar's pizza!"

Jade shrugged. "It's not terrible."

She_loved_ Omar's Pizza.

But she also hate saying that she loved things, so that was that.

Jade looked at the plethora of presents Cat had managed to carry in. "What up with all the gifts?"

"It's Christmas!"

"… So?"

Cat nibbled on her pizza and said, "Christmas is the time of year you give presents to everyone you love!"

"Yeah, but there are like eight presents there. I don't think I even_talk_ to that many people."

Cat laughed and hopped off the couch to point at the boxes that contained her gifts. "I got a present for my mom, dad and brother, Tori, Trina, Robbie, Andre, and Beck!" She bounced on her knees, giggling like an ecstatic little girl.

"… Oh." Jade took a bite of her pizza. "Uh, okay."

Jade knew Cat was forgetful, but she wouldn't have forgotten to mention her, would she? There were only enough boxes for the people she listed, anyway… Jade didn't throw around relationship labels around much with anyone except Beck, but Cat was the closest thing she had to a best friend. Wouldn't she have gotten her a gift?

If Jade didn't know any better, she would have thought her feelings were hurt.

Good thing she knew she didn't have those.

But seriously, she got _Trina_ a gift and not her? Trina was barely even a person!

As Jade gnawed on her pizza some more, Cat started wrapping another one of the white boxes, which had _Robbie_ written on it in permanent marker. "Yeah, these gifts were pretty easy to find… The last one's going to take a little longer."

"Who's that one for? Your imaginary friend?"

"No! _You_, silly face!" Cat shook her head and started snipping some metallic wrapping paper. "Leroy and I agreed not to exchange gifts this year."

… Oh. That tiny feeling in the bottom of Jade's chest that totally wasn't sadness disappeared. Good.

And now she didn't have to throw Cat's rabbit fur purse in the fireplace.

An underwater shriek made both girls look back at the television. Cat looked like she was ready to cry and Jade looked disturbingly content. "No, not Dave Coulier!"

Jade shook her head, a satisfied look on her face as she finished off the crust. "Looks like there'll never be a Full House reunion.


	12. December 12th

**Author's Note:** _Wooooooo._

_That means I don't have much to say about this one._

_Thanks to ailodierap for the idea! It turned out pretty good :)_

**Character(s):** _Robbie, Rex, Cat, Jade, Beck, Trina, Tori_

**Pairing(s):** _Bade, Cabbie-ishness_

* * *

><p><strong>December 12th, 2011<strong>

"But I really need to use one of the computers!" Robbie cried, following Hollywood Art's head tech teacher to her desk. "Rex chopped vegetables on my PearPad last night!"

"You can't have steak without an assortment of steamed vegetables, Rob!" the puppet defended from his usual spot in the arms of his 'guardian'.

"My dad's still mad you ate his steak, in case you cared."

"I don't."

Mrs. Mosley cleared her throat, tiring of hearing the strange boy in front of her quarrel with his puppet. "Robbie, for the last time, no! You know we here at Hollywood Arts aren't too strict with our students' use of the Internet, but we do have some limits. You do realize we monitor students' browser histories, right?"

Robbie sighed. "I didn't go on those websites, I swear! Rex hacked my account!"

"Robert, why would a puppet want to look at a website called," she paused to look down at her clipboard that listen the students banned from computer use. "GirlsOfNorthridge dot org?"

"It's like you've never met him!" Robbie screeched after Rex let out a chuckle. Robbie sat him down in one of the swivel chairs and turned back to talk to Mrs. Mosley. "Can't I use it just this once if you supervise me?"

"I'm sorry, dear, but I don't make the rules when it comes to internet access."

"… Yes, you do!"

Cat strolled into the computer lab and past Robbie and Mrs. Mosley. "Hi!"

"Hey, Cat," Robbie greeted as she walked past him. He quickly went back to bargaining with the teacher. "Please? I need to look something up for-"

"Robbie, I am done talking about this because, quite frankly, you're annoying me."

She walked away and Robbie could almost parallel it to his rejection from Valerie last Friday. Except he would never ask Mrs. Mosley out, because was old. Like, in her thirties. Ew.

Robbie sighed and began to turn around. "Well, I guess I'll have to look it up lat-" He stoppe midsentence when he realized he was alone. Not only had Cat left, but… so had Rex?

That just couldn't be true. Robbie knew that.

So where did he go?

/ /

"Are you sure you don't want to-"

"Yes, babe, I'm sure. I don't feel like getting arrested anytime soon."

"Oh come on, like we'd get caught."

"I don't know how we wouldn't get caught."

Jade rolled her eyes and went back to her combination lock. Her boyfriend was a law-abiding weenie.

Right as she threw the scissor covered locker door open, Robbie raced over, looking absolutely fearful, and bumped into it, slamming it shut once again. That added to his fears.

"... You have ten seconds to run before I rip a pair off this door and stab you with them."

Robbie maintained his balance, since that impact almost knocked him flat on his back, and nervously said, "Sorry, Jade! I swear to God I didn't do that on purpose, I'm just kind of in a hurry and my glasses have my perspiration on them so it's hard to see-"

"Just tell us what's causing the spaz attack, Robbie," Beck told him as he began putting in the combo for Jade's locker, which he knew by heart. Mostly because Jade made him memorize it in case she didn't feel like opening it one day.

"Rex is missing!" Robbie cried, grabbing onto his dark curls so hard, they were sure he was going to end up ripping them out. "I was in the computer lab and I sat him down, and after Mrs. Mosley hurt my feelings and left, I turned around and he was just gone!"

As Robbie panted and Beck opened his girlfriend's locker door once more, Jade just ran a finger along the brim of her Jet Brew coffee cup in boredom. "So?"

"So? SO?" Robbie flailed his arms in a manner that was supposed to be furious, but just looked completely hilarious. "He never just runs off like that!"

"Gee, I wonder why."

Beck rested a gentle hand on her back, as if silently telling her to play nice. She started digging around in her locker with her free hand, since she needed to get her Theater History textbook. Not that she ever used it. Jade West knew everything there is to know about theater because she's Jade West.

'Nuff said.

"Look, Robbie," Beck began, patting the awkward teen's shoulder, "maybe he met a nice girl and she took him to... I don't know, get some sorbet or something."

"No, that can't be it. Rex hates things with silent letters."

… Well then.

Robbie shook his head in distress. "No, somebody must have kidnapped him! You guys have to help me find him!"

Jade grabbed her book and shut her locker. "You know I don't help people."

"You helped me last Friday."

"You seriously consider that help?"

Beck intervened and said, "Y'know Robbie, we'd love to help you find Rex, but… But, uh-"

"We really don't want to."

"Jade." Beck gave her an unpleased look. "Remember the talk we had about things that are rude to say to people?"

Jade leaned against the wall on the right side of her locker and shrugged. "It's also rude not to listen to your boyfriend when he blithers on about things that don't involve making out. That's just how I roll."

"Aw, forget it!" Robbie cried, throwing his hands in the air. "I might as well have asked a box of hammers to help me!" He ran off, his arms flapping behind him, and left Beck and Jade alone.

/ /

It was lunchtime and Trina was in line waiting for her tuna wrap from the Grub Truck. Festus poked his head out the window of the truck and held out a plastic container to her. "Here's your lunch, buddy."

"Ugh, finally." Trina grabbed the box, took one look through the clear lid, and exclaimed, "This isn't a tuna wrap! This is a tube sock covered in mayonnaise!"

Festus shrugged and muttered in his thick accent, "I'm still mad about being yanked out of my truck."

Throwing her container on the ground, Trina stormed off to find Tori so she could steal whatever she had bought for lunch. She almost got knocked over by Robbie as he frantically ran through the Asphalt Café.

"Trina!" Robbie gasped, trying to catch his breath. "Help me look for Rex!"

Trina's brows furrowed as she composed herself. "What? No!"

"Please! I'll be your best friend!"

"I don't even want you to be my acquaintance!"

"Please! I'll do anything for your help!"

"… Buy me a tuna wrap."

Robbie nodded, a small smile creeping onto his face. "Yeah, definitely!"

"And I need you to help me flock."

"… You want me to _what_?"

"Flock. I don't know how to flock and I need you to teach me."

"… I-I don't… understand."

Trina let out a huff and readjusted her backpack strap on her shoulder. "My parents put me in charge of decorating the house for Christmas, and I got this huge tree, but it needs that fake snow stuff on it. That's flocking."

"O-Oh. That's a lot less disturbing."

Trina rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever, can you help me or not? We all know Tori's not that useful, so I need someone who knows about something besides flirtatious hair flipping."

"Yeah." Robbie nodded. "Yeah, I can totally help! But we have to find Rex first!"

"Sure, no problem. Just one question."

"What?"

"Who's Rex?"

"…"

/ /

After getting her tuna wrap, she found Tori and nagged her into helping her and Robbie look for the missing. Tori agreed, as she hadn't really been busy anyway. Andre had been really quiet during lunch. She figured it was just girl trouble or something.

Ooooh, if only she knew.

"Robbie, we've looked everywhere," Tori sighed, rejoining Robbie and Trina in the main hallway after searching in the recording studio. "Maybe you just misplaced him."

"Tori, he's a person! You don't misplace a person!"

"Since when are puppets people?" Trina asked, leaning against the staircase railing and admiring her nails. "Did they pass some new amendment or something?"

"He's not a puppet!" Robbie plopped down on the steps and put his head in his hands. "And he's not even here to say it, because he's gone! It's all my fault! I should have just borrowed Cat's PearPad to look up that thing about the stuff and-"

He immediately stopped talking, which confused Tori and mad Trina thank every God she could think of.

"Cat…" He brought his head up, along with the rest of his body, and started running away. Tori and Trina just watched him run.

"… Shouldn't we be in class?"

Trina merely shrugged and said, "That's no fun."

/ /

Robbie stomped into Sikowitz's empty classroom, which wasn't so empty, since he could see Cat standing on the stage, her back turned to the door. "Cat!"

The redhead twisted her head around and smiled at him. "Hi, Robbie! How goes it?"

"Don't act all cute and fluffy with me!" Robbie put his hands on his hips and tried his best to look intimidating. He didn't do very well. "What did you do with Rex?"

Cat looked confused for a moment, more confused than usual, but quickly realized what he meant and said, "Oh, yeah! I found this cute little costume in the Black Box and I thought it'd be fun if I gave Rex a Christmas makeover!"

"What are you talking-"

Cat stepped away from the table she had been standing in front of, silencing Robbie. Rex was sitting there, his expression blank as always, but there was something gravely different about him. "Why is he dressed like an elf?"

"I think we used these elf costumes for a lay the preschool next door put on," Cat explained as Robbie got on the stage and picked up the red-and-green felt jingle bell mess that was Rex. "It fit perfectly, so it must have been a really small preschooler."

After he was safely back in Robbie's arms, Rex talked for the first time in hours. "How could you let me get manhandled by this grunge, Rob? Look at what she did to me! What if one of my Northridge girls sees me like this?"

"I thought Northridge girls aren't allowed on this campus anymore," Cat quietly said,twiddling her fingers innocently.

Robbie sighed and, feeling guilty for acting so harshly before, told her, "The next time you want to… borrow Rex, can you tell me first?"

Cat smiled and nodded. "Kaykay!" She gave Robbie the biggest hug she could with Rex wedged between them before happily skipping out the door.

Robbie smiled a bit as he watched her skedaddle, then looked back down at Rex. "I think you look kinda cute."

"If I had control over my arm, I'd slap you."


	13. December 13th

**Author's Note:**_ Ugh, why do you guys leave such amazing reviews? Seriously, why? You guys are killing me with your awesomeness :D_

_Soooooo, I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. I hope you have fun reading it :)_

**Character(s): **_Andre and Tori_

**Pairing(s): **_One-sided Tandre_

* * *

><p><strong>December 13th, 2011<strong>

"_Candy canes and mistletoe, Jack Frost nippin' at your nose, all of it means nothing with you_..." Andre lifted his fingers off the keyboard he had been gently playing and looked out into the wide space the Black Box provided, deep in thought. Andre had gone through his song about ten thousand times at home to find what Anthony didn't like and he figured a thousand more times at school wouldn't hurt.

And a thousand was not an exaggeration. He could hear his dad humming it as he left for work in the morning, and last night his grandma thought he forgot how to talk and ran back to her house screaming, "Andre is broken!" over and over.

Andre was starting to think he really was broken, since he couldn't figure out what was wrong with the song.

Seriously. He poured his _heart_ and_ soul_ into that thing.

And he added candy canes into the mix to make Cat happy, but candy canes are practically the same thing as love, right?

Maybe he should write Tori a different song. The thought had crossed his mind, but he had just thought he did a great job on the first song. But great songs don't get Ds, so who was he to talk.

Andre tapped on a few of the keys and after working out a general beat, he just sang the first few lyrics that came to mind.

"_Girl, my heart needs a chance to catch up, 'cause I love more than... ketchup_."

Andre slammed on his keyboard furiously with the palm of his hand, resulting in a furious screech that sounded nothing like music. After setting his keyboard on the floor, he laid down, rolled onto his stomach and moaned as if he was dying.

He was, but that was just on the inside.

Just as he started thinking that a dead bug that had been on the floor had gotten up his nose, he felt a slight poke in his side. He lifted his head up enough to see a certain lady friend of his smiling down at him with those amazing cheekbones of hers.

Andre yelped and rolled over three times in the opposite direction before jumping up and dusting himself off. "Hey, Tori. How goes it?"

Tori raised a confused eyebrow, but laughed nonetheless. "Pretty good. I'm guessing you can't say the same thing."

"Wh-What do you mean?" Oh gravy, she was onto him! If he bought a plane ticket and got a sombrero from the costume department after school, he could probably make it to Mexico by-

"You've been acting kind of wonky the past few days and I just found you face down on this dirty floor. Is something wrong?" Tori fiddled with the drawstring of her hoodie and gave him a concerned look.

Wait a minute. That was_ his_ hoodie. The one he gave her because he was too ashamed to play his suckish song for her.

As if this wasn't going to be hard enough for him.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, I got my wonk under control." He nodded. "Yep, nothing's wrong. Everything's hunky dunky."

"... Hunky dunky?"

Andre mentally slapped himself. If he had done it physically, it might look suspicious. "Yeah, it's... it's fresh new slang. The Bureau of Slang just approved it."

Mental slap part deux.

"... Okay." Tori sighed and sat down on the ground, pulling Andre's keyboard closer to her. "You just seem bummed, that's all. I haven't seen you this upset since that producer turned you down because he didn't want a blob of spaghetti representing his label."

As she turned the instrument back on, Andre sat down across from her. She knew he was sad, so he might as well admit it. Without entirely specific details, of course. "This is even worse than that, Tor. Much worse."

Tori cast him a sad glance before poking one of the more high-pitched keys. "C'mon, tell me what's got you all pouty face."

"My face is not pouty."

"Really? You don't consider _this_ pouty?" she asked, mimicking his expression, rapidly batting her eyelashes and over-exaggerating the poutiness completely. Or at least Andre hoped she was, because otherwise his expression currently mirrored one of a five year old girl who got a brick instead of a unicorn for her birthday.

"Well, you know that assignment for Songwriting, right?"

Tori nodded. "Mhmm. What about it?"

"Cat and I... We got a D on it."

Tori didn't know her jaw could drop so low and so fast. "What? You got a D? On a song _you_ wrote?"

"Aww, I don't wanna hear it!" Andre moaned, covering his ears with his hands. "It killed me just _saying _it!"

The half-Latina grabbed his hands and pulled them down. "Andre, come on, one bad grade isn't the end of the world!"

"You don't understand! This song was really important to me!" Andre stopped losing his chizz for a second to note that Tori was still holding onto his hands. That made him lose even more of his chizz. "I worked so hard on it and I was going to play it for... m-my dog."

"Your _dog_?"

"Yeah. She enjoys a good Christmas song." Andre nodded, trying to look convincing. "I wrote the song for her to tell her how I really feel about her. But Anthony said it wasn't as amazing as I thought it was, and... my dog doesn't deserve a D song."

Tori gave his hands a gentle squeeze and nodded in understanding. "Andre, Anthony's opinion is just one of millions. And I can guarantee you that nine hundred ninety nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety eight people and a certain canine will absolutely love your song." She gave him a genuine smile, but Andre couldn't even bare to return it.

"I... I wish I could believe that."

Andre slipped his hands out of Tori's and got up. "Andre, please don't leave! I was just trying to make you feel better."

Andre shook his head as he started walking toward the exit. "It's not you, Tori. You have nothing to do with this."

Lying to Tori made Andre's mouth taste like he drank motor oil and gargled with Oystamato juice.

As he shut the door behind him, Tori just sat there, his keyboard still in front of her. She mashed her hand on the lowest notes, much like Andre had before she arrived and muttered to herself, "Why does he care so much what his dog thinks about his song?"

Heh, well, one time she said Andre wrote a song for his dog, but she only said that to cover up his feelings for-

Oh God no.

No.

No no no no no _no_! Not again! He couldn't have!

Could he?

She didn't even take time to consider any other possibility before she whispered, "Andre's still in love with Jade."

She attempted to make the dramatic _dun dun duuuuuun_ noise on the keyboard, but it mostly just sounded like she didn't know how to play the piano. Which she didn't.

But that was the last thing on her mind.

* * *

><p><em>lol y tori so stoopid.<em>

_jk, love ya, tor-tor._

_I'm actually proud for coming up with the lyrics for Andre's second song to Tori. That really says something, doesn't it?_


	14. December 14th

**Author's Note: **_This one is... meh. But I had a huge test to study for! Please forgive me!_

**Character(s):** _Robbie, Tori, Trina_

**Pairing(s):** _Rori friendship, I suppose._

* * *

><p><strong>December 14th, 2011<strong>

"How is a machine that sprays artificial foam so heavy?" Robbie panted, yanking on the large device he had gotten to help Trina flock her tree.

He still thought it didn't sound right.

He was right outside the door, so he yanked on the hose a few more times so he could hold onto it and ring the doorbell at the same time. After a moment, the door opened and Robbie was greeted by not Trina, but Tori. "Um, hi Robbie." Tori's brows scrunched in confusion. "What are you doing here? And... And what's that?"

"This?" Robbie patted the large metal box and told her, "This is a flocking machine."

"... Do you not remember that my dad's a cop?"

Robbie shook his head and said, "No no, a FLOCKing machine! This is gonna put fake snow on your tree!"

"... Oh." Tori's horrified expression faded and she slowly stepped out of the way. "Come in."

Robbie tugged the heavy machinery into the Vega home, and Tori thankfully helped him push it in and lift it off the wheeled base before she shut the door. "So why are you helping my sister flock our tree?"

Robbie stopped playing with the hose and looked back up at Tori. "She asked me to help her."

"Why? Trina doesn't like you."

Yeah, sure. That didn't hurt his feelings. "I asked her to help me look for Rex the other day and this was the only way I could get her to agree to help me. That, and get her a tuna wrap."

Tori raised an eyebrow and sat on the couch, gesturing for Robbie to join her. "And why couldn't she have gotten her own tuna wrap?"

As he sat down, he shrugged. "Festus refused to give her one because of the time she yanked him out of his truck and broke his tamale making arm."

"... But you yanked him out too."

Robbie scratched his head. "Huh. Yeah, I did... Maybe he just likes me better than Trina."

"With Trina, it's entirely possible."

Speak of the devil, Trina Vega walked down the steps and, once she saw Robbie was there, stopped on the bottom step and let out a sigh of frustrated relief. "Finally! You're late!"

"I'm here three minutes earlier than you told me to be here."

"Well, you should have known I meant sooner!" Trina walked around the humongous tree that Robbie had somehow failed to notice and down to him and Tori. Her anger slightly faded as she noticed the foreign device that was in the middle of her living room. "Is this the flocker?"

"Yep!" Robbie got up and patted the machine. "I borrowed it from my uncle Charlie. That guy sure does love to flock."

"Okay, great," Trina said, inspecting the machine with great care, as if she thought it was going to explode. "We'll just get it up by the tree and then we can get started." With one last tap to the metal, Trina went back up onto the higher level of the living room and started up the steps again.

"Where are you going?" Robbie asked, holding his hands up in a confused and exasperated gesture. "You said we-"

"Well, I can't help with that part! I just got a spray tan and I can't do stuff that'll get me all sweaty when it's still fresh," Trina explained, running a hand along her perfectly tanned cheek.

Tori clearly wasn't buying it. "You did not just get a spray tan! And you're half-Latina, why would you even need-"

"I can't hear you over the sound of my spray tan!" Trina cried, running up the steps and down the hall as fast as she could. As if that wouldn't have made her all sweaty.

Robbie didn't look pleased, and Tori just looked like she had seen that coming. She was the one who had lived with Trina all her life, after all.

She hadn't really planned on helping decorate, since she wasn't really in the spirit to do anything jolly, but Robbie was sweet enough to come help and bring them a flocking machine. She'd feel bad leaving him to do all the work.

His life was already suckish enough.

They began scooting the flocking machine over to the steps and, as they did so, Tori decided to talk about something that had been on her mind since yesterday. "Hey, Robbie, can I ask you something?"

"Is it about the Spice Girls?"

"... No."

Robbie shrugged and tugged on the flocking hose once again. "I guess I could still try and answer it."

Tori, pushing the machine on the carpeted floors from behind, let out a groan of distress before saying, "So, I have this... friend. A really close friend. I think this friend likes someone that is off limits to them in multiple ways."

Robbie gave her a strange look. "Uh huh..."

"And if this friend keeps having these feelings for this certain person, then it could ruin an entire group of friends' relationships and just be plain janky." Tori gave a great shove to the flocker and looked back at Robbie. "What should I do about my... friend?"

"... Is this your way of telling me you love me?"

Tori probably should have looked more surprised by that, but she honestly wasn't. Robbie was such a... special guy. "No."

Robbie frowned, but didn't look all that disappointed. "I expected as much."

They had managed to shove it halfway up the steps and only needed to go a little further to get it up by the tree. But even though Tori was far stronger than Robbie, she was starting to have difficulty pushing such a heavy hunk of metal uphill. However, when she almost had it-

"Those had better be grunts of accomplishment I hear!" a voice cried from upstairs. She heard stomping and pretty soon, Trina was stomping back down the steps. "Come on, you two! We need to flock up that tree before Mom and Dad-"

While she had been lecturing them, Robbie had gripped tighter onto the flocking hose to get it to budge. In the process, he pulled the lever on the hose and launched a flocking lot of fake snow into her face.

Robbie instantly shut off the hose and looked as if he was going to pee himself. Tori almost thought he did.

At least she managed to get the flocker up the steps.

"Tr-Trina..." Robbie managed to stutter, looking absolutely mortified. "I am s-so sorry, that was an accident, please don't hurt me-"

Trina, who had been frozen in foamy horror, didn't move but slowly said, "Just get me a flock rag before I shove that hose in your pants and flock 'em up, will you?"

Robbie could only nod as he ran off into the kitchen to find a rag that would be appropriate for removing flock.

Tori just stood there, biting back laughter as her sister tried to wipe the flock out and away from her eyes.

At least that distracted her from freaking out over her thoughts of Andre being in love with Jade again.

If only she really knew what was going on.

And if only Robbie knew what a flock rag looked like.


	15. December 15th

**Author's Note:**_ I either like this one or hate it. It's hard to tell with my stuff._

_For those of you unaware of what a Figit Friend is, look them up. They're toys that dance and say freakish things and are generally kinda creepy. Beck agrees._

**Character(s):** _Cat and Beck_

**Pairing(s):** _Bat friendship_

* * *

><p><strong>December 15th, 2011<strong>

"Boop, boop, boooooop," Cat quietly said as she hit the keys on the baby grand piano. Her instrumental music teacher had suggested that she practice her piano playing. She was good with the fast songs, but not so much with the slow songs. Those didn't sound so good when you played them by wildly mashing down on the keys.

And that was usually how Cat played the piano because... Y'know, that was fun.

Gently playing them just gave her a frowny face.

As she tried to start playing something by Wolfgang Bach or somebody like that, she heard the door to the music room open behind her, so she spun around on her spinny stool. "Hi, Beck!"

Beck, holding an electric guitar in his hands, closed the door and gave her a small wave. "Hey."

As he put the instrument back onto one of the many stands in the room, she said, "You look all sweaty. Did you rock out too hard? My brother did that once." She paused, began playing with a strand of long red hair and finally said, "He had to get his stomach pumped afterwards."

Beck bit back a laugh and walked over to her. "No, not exactly. Jade was trying to smack Sinjin with it, so I had to wrestle it away from her."

Cat's nose crinkled as she let out a giggle. "Jade's silly."

"That's one way to put it." Beck pulled up a chair and sat backwards in it, being the cool cat he is. "So..." Beck rested his arms on the back of the chair and continued, "Listen, I don't know of you're busy after school, but I could kind of use your help with something."

"I love helping people!" Cat clapped her hands and spun around on her stool once more. "Whatdya need help with?"

"I've got almost all my Christmas shopping done for my family." Beck absentmindedly tapped his man ring against the metal of the chair. "I'm just having trouble picking out a gift for my cousin."

"Oooh, we're going present shopping?" Cat was now spinning herself nonstop on the stool, but was still able to ask, "Why do you need my help?"

Beck casually shrugged. "Well, she's five years old, and I love her and all, but I have no idea what little girls like. Last year I got her a toy hammer and she used it to beat the gravy out of some kid in her preschool class." He shook his head and muttered, "And that's why I'm not asking Jade for present ideas anymore."

Cat stopped spinning and giggled. Jade really _was_ silly.

But Jade hates the word silly, so don't tell her Cat said that.

"I just thought that you could help me, since you're... really creative." That was the Beck way of saying that she had the brain of a five year old girl and would know what one would like for a gift.

"Well, school's out, let's go now!" Cat exclaimed. She was pretty darn excited, because how many times do you get the chance to look at toys without getting weird looks from the mean little kids at the toy store?

Not very many, in Cat's case.

Beck stood up to leave, and Cat did too, but she was still dizzy from her spinny stool adventure, so she promptly fell over.

But Beck was there to catch her. Yay for him. "Maybe we should wait until you've got your balance back."

"Or maybe you could just carry me to your car?" Cat not so subtly suggested, batting her eyelashes at him and giving him the most adorable look she could muster. "I don't weigh much and I smell like strawberries."

Beck sighed, but smiled and hoisted her up into his arms.

Sometimes he thought he was too nice for his own good. No wonder he and Jade worked out so well.

Opposites attract.

/ /

Before either of them knew it, they were standing outside of the store in the mall Cat had told Beck they needed to go to. Cat looked up at the bright pink sign above the entrance with joy, while Beck didn't know what to think. "Um... Can't we shop somewhere else instead?"

"No," Cat said, shaking her head and looking over at him with a chipper smile. "Girly Q has the best toys for girls in the world! Your cousin's perfect gift is in here somewhere!"

Beck nodded. "Yeah, I realize that, but I really don't want to go in there."

Cat frowned. "Why not?"

"I'm pretty sure a guy would burst into blames if he stepped in there."

Cat let out a scoff of a laugh and grabbed onto his hand. "It won't be so bad. I'll guide you the entire way."

Strangely enough, that did make him feel better. Mostly because having a pretty girl with him in a store that looked like a flamingo made of glitter threw up on it would make him seem like less of a nancy.

But not by much.

After Cat led him in, she let go of his hand and started oohing and aahing at all the fluffy, frilly stuff around the store. There were dolls, stuffed animals, dress up clothes, and pretty much everything else a little girl could dream of.

But that didn't stop Beck from saying, "I don't see _anything_ in here that a girl would want."

Even Cat could tell that comment showed how much time he spent with Jade.

"There's tons of stuff!" Cat grabbed a colorful box full of plastic donuts and noodles and whatnot and held it out to Beck. "Look, here's some pretend food! That's fun!"

Beck looked down at the box and asked, "Couldn't she just eat _real_ food?"

"Well... Yeah... But that's not as fun!" Cat put the box back on the shelf. "Okay, let's look for something else." She led him down on of the thousands of aisles in the store, dodging about thirty young girls as they did so. "What kind of things does your cousin like?"

"Uh, she likes music. I know that. And she takes some kind of dance class, I think."

Cat nodded and continued to look around. As the two teens weaved past a set of twins yanking on their mother's arm like some peculiar version of tug of war, the petite redhead saw something at the very end along the wall.

After dragging him down the rest of the aisle, Cat squealed, "Oh my jangles! That would be perfect!" and pointed to the bright pink plastic blob of a toy that looked like some type of freakish bug alien to Beck.

"What's that thing?" Beck asked. He couldn't even imagine why Cat looked so excited when she saw it. It didn't look all that special to him.

"It's a Jitter Jatter!" Cat made a beeline for the item and said, "These things are soooo cool! Lookit!" She pressed the pink creature's belly and it started bobbing around and making strange noises. "Hee hee! Yaaaay!" Cat started dancing along with the strange toy, much like she does whenever she sings a Waggafuffles song, and earned quite a few looks from the other Girly Q patrons.

Beck just kind of stood there, not sure what to do. Maybe he could just go next door and build his cousin a bear or something.

"Are you sure it won't scare her?"

Cat stopped dancing. "Why would it scare her?"

"Because it kind of scares me, and nothing does that."

Cat nudged his arm and laughed. "Oh, come on! If she likes music and dancing, this is it! She'll have her own little friend to dance and sing with!"

… That actually mad a lot of sense. And she was an only child, so she probably did get lonely. Even if the toy was kind of wonky, it would make her happy, and that was why he was getting her a gift.

That, and he still had to make up for practically getting her expelled from her preschool last year.

"Yeah… Okay, yeah. Let's get this… thing."

Beck could barely get out the 'thing' before Cat grabbed the Jitter Jatter and ran up to the cash register.

Oh, he should probably join her. He was the one paying for it, after all.

/ /

"Thanks again for helping me out, Cat," Beck said, pulling onto the street where her house was. "I probably would have gotten her another blunt murder object if it weren't for you."

Cat let out a laugh and shook her head. "Aww, no problem. I had fun!" She was holding the Jitter Jatter on her lap, clutching it as if it was hers to take home. Beck was almost worried she was going to cry when he'd have to take it away from her. "I'm sure your cousin will love this!"

They finally pulled up to her house, and Cat realized it was time to go. She looked down at the pink blob with a pouty lip and stroked one of its antennas. Beck had just been kidding with himself before, but now Beck really _was_ afraid she'd start crying. "Hey, I have another favor to ask." Cat looked up attentively. "I'm… I'm terrible at wrapping gifts. Seriously, you can ask Andre and Robbie if you don't believe me."

Cat nodded, still looking like a sad little girl who was getting her Jitter Jatter yanked right out from under her nose. "Yeah?"

Beck placed a hand on the toy that still kind of gave him the willies. "Can you take this and wrap it for me? You can take as much time as you need."

Cat instantly smiled and nodded. "Yeah! Of course!" She leaned over to give Beck a hug, which he promptly returned. "Byyeeee!" She hopped out of the car and skipped up the walkway to her house. Beck waited for her to wave goodbye and walk into her house before he began to drive off.

Now he was going to have to buy his cousin some batteries too. Oh well. That's a small price to pay for his friend's happiness.

And now he wouldn't have to wrap it up himself and presenting it to her wouldn't make the five year old cry. That was a plus too.

* * *

><p><em>I kind of think Beck would get a little uncomfortable out around super girly pink stuff. Like, a LOT of it. <em>

_Jade approves of that._


	16. December 16th

**Author's Note:** _Ugh, more shopping, more lateness. But hopefully this suffices._

_I'd like to thank everyone again for the amazing reviews! They really keep me going :) And hopefully I can get more suggestions done, maybe I can even get to one tomorrow! :D_

**Character(s):** _Cat and Tori_

**Pairing(s):** _Cori friendship, mentioned Tandre_

* * *

><p><strong>December 16th, 2011<strong>

"Hahaha, yaaay!" Cat shook her hips as the pink blob from the day before that bobbed back and forth and made odd noises that resembled music. "Go, Jitter Jatter, go!"

She had played with Beck's cousin's new toy all last night, so much that her brother thought he was hearing the voices again and his mother had to give him his Funky Nut Blast ice cream with his special medicine to calm him down. She had brought it to school and was going to wrap it in the Black Box Theater. There was wrapping paper and tape there, leftover from a skit about a Christmas mummy the freshmen had put on, and it was private, because she didn't want Beck to find out she had been playing with his cousin's toy.

Y'know, because she didn't realize that was the main reason he left it with her in the first place.

As Cat tried to mimic the toy and its pink plastic motions, the doors to the theater abruptly opened.

With a squeal, Cat stepped in front of the table the gift was on and screeched, "I wasn't playing with the Jitter Jatter Beck got his cousin for Christmas!"

Tori, a confused look on her face, said, "Nice to see you too." She readjusted the strap on the brown leather bag she used for school and said, "I have no idea what that thing is you were just dancing with, but that's not important. I need to ask you something."

"Ooh, a question! It's like a game show!" Cat and Tori walked over to the folding chairs that were set out and sat down. "Ask away!"

Tori sat her bag down and looked at Cat. "I think Andre is in love with Jade."

Cat scrunched her nose in confusion. "That's not a question. Is this one of those shows where I have to answer with a question?"

"Cat, forget about questions! This is serious!" Tori shook her head and looked up at the ceiling. "She's Beck's girlfriend, Andre can't be in love with her!"

"Why do you think he loves her?" Looks like Cat would have to ask the questions. "Did he say?"

"No, but he said he wanted to play the song he wrote for 'his dog'," she included the air quotes, "to tell her how he feels about her."

"... Tori, calling Jade a dog isn't very nice."

Tori looked at Cat again and resisted the urge to scream. She probably should have talked to someone else about this, but... Cat was the first of her friends she found. "He said it was for his dog because he didn't want me to know Jade inspired it!"

"Oh... But how do you know he meant Jade?"

It was just then that Tori remembered she was the only person who had known about Andre's previous crush on Jade. Oops. "Uh... Woman's intuition."

"Oh, okay. That seems legit." Cat nodded, glanced over at the motionless Jitter Jatter and added, "I kind of thought Andre wrote it for you."

Tori's eyebrows rose at this. "You mean to sing?"

Cat shook her head. "No, like for _you_."

"But why would he... That would mean... He doesn't... Why would you think that?" was the only question Tori could manage to spit out.

"Because he likes you, _duh_!" Cat exclaimed, as of it was obvious.

"No, he doesn't!" Tori didn't look horrified by this, but just completely shocked. "I mean... I don't think he does."

"Everyone else does."

"Say what now?" Tori deadpanned.

Cat happily nodded. "Yeah. Beck and Robbie think so, Jade thinks so, even Sikowitz and Lane-"

Tori held a hand up, interrupting her. "Whoa, wait, _Jade_ thought about something that involves my love life and didn't punch me in the face for it?" she asked.

"Well, she tried to whack Sinjin with a guitar yesterday. That might have something to do with it."

Or not. It was Sinjin, after all.

"Okay, so what else did Jade say?"

"Jade says you like him too," she innocently told her, twirling a strand of red velvet hair. "Apparently because you two are in love and should stop being morons and just make out already." After seeing the look Tori gave her, she quietly added, "Her words, not mine."

"Cat, think about it." Tori smiled and patted her friend on the shoulder. "Andre's my best friend, so I know for a fact he can't hold his emotions in. If he liked me, he would have done something about it by now."

"Oh. I guess that makes sense."

Tori still hadn't asked Cat what she should do about Andre, but it was almost time for their next classes, so she'd do it later. "I should get going. Thanks again, Cat." What she was thanking her for, she didn't know, since all Cat had done was spew nonsense about Andre having a crush on her and be all around unhelpful, but she felt obligated to say that.

She was almost out the door when Cat cried, "Wait, Tori!"

The half-Latina spun around. "Yeah?"

"Do you like Andre? Like,_like_ like?"

Tori gave Cat a look one would give a child when said child just asked something ridiculous but the answer needed to be dealt with gently. "Cat. Me and Andre?" Tori shook her head and repeated her advice from before. "Think about it."

After walking through the doors, she felt a sudden chill. Rubbing her bare arms, she muttered to herself, "Wazz, why do they make it so cold in here during the winter?" One theory she had was that they were trying to make it snow inside the school due to the lack of snow outside in sunny Los Angeles.

She wouldn't put it below Hollywood Arts.

Tori rifled through her bookbag, looking for a certain something. "Ah, there it is." She yanked out Andre's hoodie and shook the wrinkles out of it. Before she could even attempt to put it on, she took the advice she had given to Cat. She thought about it.

Andre had texted her, saying he had a surprise for her. He had spazzily given her his hoodie, which was the strangest surprise she had ever gotten.

And then he hadn't wanted to talk about his song, and his wonkiness… The last time he acted that wonky was when he was crushing on Jade… But he only got up to _that_ level of wonkiness when she had been around him.

Tori stood there, frozen, not even caring that the warning bell had just rung.

For the first time, Tori considered the possibility that Andre really _did_ love her. But that left one big question.

Did she love him back?


	17. December 17th

**Author's Note: **_Let's see how Tori really feels about Andre. _

_With Trina's help._

_Yeah, I don't get it either._

**Character(s):** _Trina and Tori_

**Pairing(s):** _Torina sisterness and mentioned Tandre_

* * *

><p><strong>December 17th, 2011<strong>

After the Vega parents walked out of the house and the front door shut, Trina poked her head out of the top of the staircase, made sure they were really gone, and stormed down the steps in a flash. She got on her hands and knees, surveyed every present under the fully flocked tree, and checked their tags to see if any new presents for her were placed there.

"Butternut!" Trina hissed under her breath. "Tori's got two more presents than she did last night! At this rate, I'll never win Christmas!"

Sighing, she got off her knees and walked into the kitchen. Maybe if her presents cost more than Tori's, she could still take a surprise victory.

As she pulled a cream of wheat packet out of the pantry, she heard her sister slowly walk down the steps and into the lower half of the house. She hadn't really said much since yesterday, and had spent most of her time after school locked in her room. If Trina didn't know any better, she'd think she was getting_ worried_ about Tori.

Ha. The mere thought of that made Trina chuckle heartily.

As heartily as a girl could, at least. Chuckling wasn't very feminine.

"What's so funny?" Tori walked into the kitchen, wearing Andre's hoodie, a pair of tights and her glasses. Trina never understood why she didn't just wear her contacts all the time. Glasses made her look like her name should be Beulah.

"Oh, nothing much. Just thought of something really silly." Trina placed her cream of wheat on the stove and gestured to Tori's ensemble. "You've been wearing that hoodie a lot. People are going to start thinking you ran out of clothes. I don't want people thinking I have a little sister who's only got one article of clothing."

Tori sighed and brushed past her. "Trina, leave me alone. I've got a lot on my mind."

"Why?" Trina stirred her cream of wheat and glanced over her shoulder at her. "Did somebody make fun of your cheekbones again? I'm sure if you talked to Mom and Dad, they would let you get that reduction surgery I showed you online."

After grabbing a Crystal Waters water bottle from the fridge, Tori shot her an incredulous look. "No! Look, I know you live on your own little planet and on it, problems are only about cosmetic surgery and bleached feet, but I could really use my big sister's help, so if you could stop being vain and obnoxious for a minute or so, that would be great!"

Trina stood frozen, actually looking a little shook up. But after a moment, she did manage to say, "God. It's no wonder I'm more popular than you are."

Tori's lips tightened into a thin line, but she sighed and calmly said, "I'm sorry. That was… well, it wasn't uncalled for, but it was still rude."

"I'll forgive you if you let me have one of your Christmas presents." Trina was in to win Christmas. Don't judge.

Tori chose to ignore that. "Can't we just talk about something?" She tiredly asked, walking into the living room. "Sisters are supposed to talk about stuff with each other and help each other out!"

"… Why?"

"Because that's what sisters do!"

"That sounds dumb." Trina poured her cream of wheat into a bowl and walked into the living room. "But I guess there's a first time for everything." She settled next to Tori on the bright red couch and gave her the most benevolent she could manage. "Tell your big sister what's got your bra in a bunch."

Bra in a bunch?

Gah, whatever.

"Last week, Andre started acting all weird, like he was hiding something." Tori took a few sips of her water and looked out into space. "I thought he had a crush on Jade, but everyone else thinks he's got a crush on me."

"Is Andre the one with the fluffy hair and the copious amounts of man jewelry?"

"… No." Tori shook her head and drank more of her bottled water. "Andre is the one you were supposed to perform with in the big Showcase."

"Oh, right." Trina nodded, realization crossing her face. "I guess Andy is short for Andre."

"Yeah, sure." Tori knew by then to quit while you're ahead with Trina. "But the biggest problem is… I think I like him back."

"Why is that a problem?" Trina's brows furrowed. "The last time I checked, you haven't had the best luck with guys. Steven cheated on you, Ryder just used you-"

"Is there a point to you listing my failed relationships?"

Trina nodded and took in a spoonful of cream of wheat. "I'm just saying, there's a decent guy out there who likes you and you say you like him back, right? What's wrong with that?"

"I'm not_ sure_ I like him that way, though." Tori looked down at her lap, beginning to peel the wrapper off the water bottle, a habit she had when she was nervous and had a water bottle in her hands. "I've thought about it before. Any girl would with their guy friends. When we first met, I'll admit I kind of had a crush on him, but then we became friends… But now, when I think about us as a couple, like holding hands and kissing… I can't even picture that! He's one of my best friends! What if we dated and everything changed between us? What if things went horribly wrong?"

Trina thought that over for a moment, stirring her creamy wheat as she contemplated that. "What if things went horribly _right_?"

Tori looked at her sister and raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"

Trina shrugged, buying herself some time to think of what to say. "Well, I don't pay attention to you and your little friends much, but you and Andy always seem to have a good time together."

Tori nodded. That _was_ true.

"And he's always singing these songs for you. And th-the way he looks at you… Your faces light up when you see each other. You're both your happiest when you're with each other… Not that I notice that kind of stuff." Nice save, Trina.

Tori, looking deep in thought, nodded and looked down at her now completely unwrapped water bottle. "You're… You're right."

"_Duh_. I kind of thought you always liked him." Trina not so casually shrugged. "You're pretty desperate when it comes to guys."

Tori almost pointed out the hypocrisy in her saying that, but that wasn't exactly her main concern.

"I… I really don't know what to do about this. I can't just _tell_ Andre I love him back, right?"

"Why not? That's what I do."

"And that's why you're not allowed within ten yards of Shawn Becker's house."

"He overreacted."

"You pizza'd his house."

Trina scoffed, scooping some cream of wheat into her face hole. "That cheating scum nugget's just lucky I didn't pizza him and his homely girlfriend."

Tori's brows scrunched to that, but she chose not to respond. "Okay, so… Do you think I should do something about this? Should I tell Andre how I feel?"

"You don't have to be so formal. If you're going to date him, call him Andy like everyone else."

Tori has to bite her tongue so much when it comes to Trina. "So… You agree that I should tell him how I feel?"

"Of course you should!" Trina patted her on the shoulder and gently said, "With an older sister that's so much prettier and more talented, if a guy shows he likes you, you have to pounce on that opportunity."

Tori literally bit her tongue that time. Ow. "Yeah, thank you, Trina. I can always count on you to make me feel better."

Trina didn't sense the sarcasm in her voice, so she just smiled in some attempt to look humble. "That's what I'm here for, baby sister."

Tori nodded and slowly stood up. "Yeah… I'll be in my room… I have to think about how I tell him." She walked up the steps, knowing that no matter how she told him, it was going to be hard. She and Andre becoming a couple could take a major toll on their friendship. Then again, her parents were friends in high school before they started going out, and their relationship went pretty well, right?

Besides having Trina and all.

Trina ate more of her cream of wheat, smiling contently. "I don't know what that girl would do without me."

Her little sister was going to get a new boyfriend… By her count, Andy would be Tori's fourth boyfriend in her short dating life. Ha. It was weird. Trina had only ever had one real boyfriend. But they broke up the summer before first grade.

Then it hit her. Her little sister has had more boyfriends than she had. Trina may have been winning Christmas, but she was losing being the more appealing sister by a long shot.

"I hate cream of wheat!" she dramatically shouted, throwing her almost bowl on the ground and storming up the steps.

Being a supportive older sister was hard.


	18. December 18th

**Author's Note:** _Once again, either love this or hate this. It's got Jade and Andre in it, so it has to be good, right?_

**Character(s):** _Jade and Andre_

**Pairing(s):** _Jandre friendship, metioned Bade and Tandre_

* * *

><p><strong>December 18th, 2011<strong>

Jade, once again, was without her father and step mother for the weekend. She couldn't even remember where they had said they were going because she seriously thought that caring less would be impossible.

Then again, Jade West is fully capable of doing the impossible.

She ring the doorbell to the house she had just walked up to and waited for someone to answer. Soon enough, someone did.

"Jade?" Andre raised an eyebrow. "Hey. Is there any reason you're here?"

Jade shrugged. "Can't I just come over to spend some time with my friend?"

"You never have before."

"I didn't feel like it any other time. I feel like it now."

A scream erupted from the house, followed by the smashing of glass. "Andre, there are shiny bombs on the tree!"

"Those are ornaments, Grandma," Andre called out into the house. "They're for decoration and they are not gonna blow up."

"Don't you sass me, boy! I know a bomb when I see one!"

Andre let out a groan and yelled, "Dad, make Grandma some cocoa or something!"

"She's afraid of warm beverages!" his father called back.

Another groan. "Well, can you try and calm her down? I've got company!"

Jade couldn't make out the rest of what Andre's father said, but she was sure it wasn't appropriate.

She decided she liked Andre's dad.

"Only competent one in your family, huh?" Jade asked, arching an eyebrow.

Andre shrugged. "My sister's kind of smart. Then again, she's eight so... Yeah, pretty much."

"I can relate to that." Jade dug under her nails with the pair of scissors she kept in the waist of her skirt and said, "So, you wanna go on a little adventure?"

"Uh… What kind of adventure?"

"An adventurous one."

"Do I get any details other than that?" Andre asked, leaning against the railing of the door.

Jade shook her head. "Not likely."

Andre's father must have turned on the stereo to play some Christmas music to calm down the frightened woman, but the squeaky voices that began singing about hula hoops only seemed to make things worse. "Chipmunks don't talk! What kind of voodoo is this?"

Andre almost considered telling Jade he wasn't interested, but a few crashes, a terrified scream and a "Momma, no, the chipmunks aren't coming to get you!" pretty much forced him to grab his house key and wallet and shut the door behind him.

"I don't have anything better to do."

Jade gave him a small smirk as they walked down to her car together. "I thought you wouldn't."

/ /

"Jade, I can't do this."

"You can do anything if you set your mind to it."

"So you want me to go down a few shirt sizes in ten seconds?"

"What, is that seriously too much to ask?"

Andre and Jade were in the teen guy's section of the Ampersand department store, and Jade had a black and grey raglan and a black long sleeve knit sweater folded in her hands. The 'adventure' Jade brought Andre on had really just been a shopping trip to get Beck a present, and Andre was the display dummy.

"Jade, I'm telling you, these clothes aren't gonna fit me," Andre said, pushing the clothes back that Jade was trying to force on him. "Beck's thinner than I am."

"You're not that fat, Harris," Jade told him, patting his belly as if it was similar to a bowl full of jelly.

Andre brushed her hand off of him. "I'm muscular. Stop hurting my feelings."

Jade sighed and held out the clothes to him again. "Just try them on. I don't know what size shirt Beck wears and I want to get him something that doesn't make him look like a lumberjack.

Andre had to give her that one. Beck _does_ wear a lot of flannel…

"Why didn't you get Robbie to help you?" Andre asked, still resisting her pushing the clothes on him "He's closer to Beck's size than I am."

"I don't like Robbie." Jade always was the blunt one, wasn't she? "I like you. Or I can at least stand to be around you."

That was probably the nicest thing she had ever said to him. As sad as that was.

"But how will you know this stuff will fit Beck if you're putting it on someone who's bigger than him?"

Jade shrugged, something she felt like she had been doing all day, and told him, "I figure if you look like a big, stuffed sausage in them, they should fit Beck decently.

She had better compliment him more, or else her constant talk of him being fat would take a huge chuck out of his confidence.

/ /

"I'm afraid I'm gonna stretch the sleeves out."

"Good. It might encourage Beck to work out more." Jade played with a green strand of hair and quietly said, "So, there's another reason I chose you to come with me here."

Jade was leaning on the wall outside the dressing room while Andre attempted to squeeze into the raglan Jade wanted to get for Beck. Andre certainly didn't feel like talking while trying to stuff himself into clothing for his friend, but he knew better than to ignore Jade when she was talking to him. "Uh, what's the other reason?"

"You like Tori, don't you."

It wasn't stated as a question. She said it like she _knew_.

That didn't make it any easier for Andre.

"Uh, sure. I like her. She's my friend. I like all my friends. I like you too. Most of the time."

Jade rolled her eyes. "Uh huh. Fine. You don't just like her. You _love_ her."

"… Got any Belgian cocoa?"

Jade let out a huff of a breath and said, "You're not fooling anyone, pretending like everything's just friendly between you and Tori. I'm pretty sure the only person fooled by you is Tori."

"So… You don't think Tori likes me back?" Just saying that made Andre's heart break and wonk out at the same time. If he physically wonked out, the shirt he was struggling to get would get ripped in a Hulk-like manner.

"Oh, I know she likes you back. I'm just saying, she isn't going to do anything about it because she's a spineless jellyfish."

"Yeah, well, it doesn't matter how gelatinous she is. I don't know for sure she likes me that way." Andre struggled to pull the raglan over his stomach. "And since my song for her got a D, there's no way I can play that for her. It's like the universe's way of telling me it wasn't meant to-"

"Oh, don't tell me you're one of those people who believes in signs and all that poppycock."

"Dang, no need for that kind of language."

"Who cares what kind of grade you got on your song?" Jade crossed her arms and kick one foot up on the wall. "Stop being a little girl and just tell her how you feel."

Andre finally managed to yank the shirt on without ripping it anywhere. "Why do you care? You hate Tori and anything that makes Tori happy."

Jade had to give him that one. "True. Very, indescribably true. I just hate seeing people who both obviously like each other act like weenies and not do something about it. So do something about it."

After a few seconds of contemplative silence, Andre poked his head out the door. "You think I should?"

"No, I spent five minutes convincing you to do it just for yuks." Jade flicked one of his dreads out of his face. "When Beck first tried to ask me out, I threatened to call the cops several times. But one day, he finally just told me how he felt, and that he didn't want to date me because I was hot, which I obviously was. He wanted to date me because he liked me for me and wanted to have me all to himself. That's what made me say yes."

"So, you appreciated his honesty?"

"No, I felt sorry for him because he was a wuss and had probably never had a girlfriend before." Jade gestured for Andre to come out. "Speaking of the wuss, let's see how his new shirt's gonna look."

He sighed, but slowly began to walk out of the dressing room. If he made too fast of a movement, Andre was sure he'd rip the shirt that barely went over his belly button and squeezed him in all the wrong places in half.

Jade contently nodded. "Perfect."

"Yeah, making me feel chucky is always a good time."

/ /

"So… I should really tell her?"

Jade was driving back to Andre's house, but cast him a quick glance and said, "Sure. If Vega has a boyfriend that isn't suckish, then it's less likely she'll rub my boyfriend up."

"I… I don't know. What if she doesn't feel the same way?"

"She does."

"But what if she _doesn__'__t_?"

"She _does_."

"… But what if she-"

"I will stop this car and make you walk home."

"Shutting up."

After turning into his subdivision, Jade added, "If you ask me, you should sing your song for her."

"But… The D!"

"D isn't that bad of a letter. It's the first letter in death."

Andre gave her a slightly disturbed look. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"Sort of. I'm not very good at comfort." Jade pulled onto his street and told him, "If you keep this in any longer, I pretty sure you're going to explode. And since you're one of the few people I don't despise, it wouldn't be satisfactory if you blew yourself up because of a Vega."

She pulled in front of his house, and judging from the front door being wide open, he was guessing his grandma ran out of the house for one reason or another and his dad had gone after her. That gave him some time to think. "Thanks, Jade. I'll think about what you said."

"You'd better. And thanks for the coffee." Jade took a drink of her Jet Brew and said, "It isn't terrible."

"Technically, you didn't give me a choice. You stole my wallet while I was trying on that sweater. But you're still welcome." Andre stepped out of the car, but before he shut the door, he leaned down and said, "You're not half bad, Jade. If you'd give Tori another chance-"

"No."

"Alright. Can't blame a guy for trying." Andre shut the door and gave her a wave goodbye before walking back up to his house. As he walked through the front door, he found himself quietly singing, "_Carolers __singing, __sleigh __bells __are __ringing, __it__'__s __that __time __of __year_" to himself.

It sounded a lot better than it did the ten thousand times he sang it after receiving his poor grade.


	19. December 19th

**Author's Note: **_On d__ad's computer, can't talk long, please review and tell me what you think! I love hearing what you have to say!_

_And I've never seen Degrassi, but I looked up some stuff about it, which you'll only get if you're a fan or have seen it too. _

**Character(s):** _Beck, Jade, Tori and Trina_

**Pairing(s):** _Bade, mentioned Tandre_

* * *

><p><strong>December 19th, 2011<strong>

Beck sat on his couch in his RV, typing out a thank you email to his Canadian grandmother on his PearPhone. Even though she had gotten him maple syrup, which he never ate, and a DVD set of Degrassi, which he had never seen, he still had to thank her for her gift. Otherwise she'd call him an ungrateful hippie and tell him to get a haircut.

And he liked his hippie hair.

He had popped one of the DVDs for the teen dramedy in and was trying to make out what was happening. He figured he might as well watch it, since he couldn't exactly return it. It mostly made his head hurt.

That Holly J girl... Why did they call her Holly J? What did the J stand for? And that Adam character looked kind of like a girl. What up with that?

Just as the fifth cat fight of the season started, Jade kicked the door open and walked in. "Hey."

Beck looked at her, his door, then back at her. "I didn't have that locked, you know."

"I know." Jade crossed her arms and added, "I just like kicking doors open, that's all." She sat down next to him, laid her legs on his lap, and leaned against the arm of the couch. "Tell me why you're watching this before I break up with you for watching it anyway."

"Didn't you see my Slap update?" Beck held up the large jug of maple syrup his grandma sent him and said, "This stuff was an early Christmas present."

"Yeah, I saw it. What I'm wondering is why you're watching it."

Beck shrugged and put his maple syrup back on the other side of the couch, where the box it had come in still lied. "I might as well. She didn't give me a receipt and I don't know anyone else who'd want it."

"... You're weird."

"I'm dating you, aren't I?"

"Touché." Jade let out something that sounded like a hybrid between a sigh and a groan and leaned her head on Beck's shoulder. "I'm angry."

"Any other brand new information for me?" Beck asked, a small smirk growing on his face. "Is the sky blue? Is Ginger Fox still a mess?"

Jade's head slowly popped back up. "I'm really starting to rub off on you, huh."

"Hopefully I've done the same for you." Beck smiled as Jade took his hand and started playing with his fingers. "So why are you angry?"

"Andre and Tori are boobs and keep doing that 'will they, won't they' bit that I hate." Jade twisted one of Beck's man rings around. "If there's one thing I hate more than seeing Vega happy, it's seeing Vega not even trying to make Andre happy."

"Sometimes I think you like Andre more than you like me," Beck said, watching some kid named Eli freak out. Wow, he did that a lot.

"And sometimes I think you should shut up." Jade laced her fingers with his and rested their hands against her knee. "But that's not the only reason I'm mad."

"And what would that reason be?" Beck asked, looking away from the dramatic drama and at his almost as dramatic girlfriend.

"Because... I think I have an idea that would get them together. And it's for Tori."

That made Beck grab the remote and pause his program, right as queen bee what's-her-name was making out with some guy that he knew for a fact already had a girlfriend. "You want to help Tori?"

"Hearing it out loud makes my ears burn."

"May I ask why?"

Jade shrugged, leaning her head against Beck's shoulder. "I want her to be in a committed relationship so she'll stop flirtatiously flipping her hair at you."

"Mhmm." Beck wasn't buying it for one second. "Are you sure you don't want to do it to be nice to Tori?"

"Positive."

"Right." Beck still didn't buy it, but he knew better than to argue. "So... Have you told Tori your idea yet?"

Jade picked her head back up and shot her a glance. "What, I have to tell her about it?"

"She can't read minds, Jade."

"That's not my fault."

Beck sighed. He wanted his friends to be happy together, and if his girlfriend had an idea that would speed up that process, then he was going to make sure that happened. "Maybe you should tell her about it, just in case."

"Ugh. Fine." Jade pulled her hand away and crossed her arms. "Do I have to do it now?"

"You don't have to," Beck told her with a shrug. "You can stay here and watch more Degrassi with me. I think there might be a prom episode in here somewhere."

"... On second thought, Tori's house isn't that far away."

How did people think Jade was the one in charge in their relationship?

/ /

Jade ring the doorbell to the Vega residence once. No response.

She ring it twice. Still no response.

Jade took that as a sign that it was okay to just walk in, and promptly did so.

Tori and Trina were standing in the middle of the living room, playing the ShakeMaster 9000 video game. Trina looked like she was in the zone and Tori looked like she just wanted to quit.

Tori also looked quite frightened when she saw Jade standing in her house and closing her door. "Jade!" She threw her pink controller on the couch. "You can't just walk into somebody's house without being let in!"

Jade shrugged uninterestedly. "I had no problem doing so."

"Hey!" Trina shouted, shaking her weight controller in Jade's direction. "We were in the middle of a game!"

"Leave," was all Jade told the self centered girl standing before her.

Trina gasped, looking quite offended. "This is my house! You can't make me-"

"Now," Jade emphasized, giving her the iciest glare she could.

"I... I'll be in my room." Trina placed her controller near the television and slowly walked away and up the steps.

Tori watched her go, then looked at Jade, clearly impressed. "Wow. You need to teach me how to do that."

"Maybe later. Look, I know you like Andre."

Tori's eyes widened, but she quickly said, "No I don't."

"Vega, I found out a while ago, so the only person you're fooling is yourself." Jade sat on the couch and Tori sat on the other half, in fear of being knocked off if she say by Jade. "I just came over to tell you how you can both stops being boobs and make out."

"Boobs?" Tori's brows furrowed. "What, did you watch the Drake and Josh marathon today?"

"Not important. You wanna hear my idea or not?"

"Y-Yeah! I've been trying to think of ideas for days, but I just don't know how to say it!"

"You don't have to say it."

"Then h-how do I-"

"You have to sing it."

* * *

><p><em>I don't know what the game Tori and her mom were playing in Helen Back Again was called, but that's the game Tori and Trina were playing. fyi.<em>


	20. December 20th

**Author's Note:** _Hey, sorry this one took longer. Probably because this is the lngest one yet. Yay for Kels! And yay for Boris Yeltsin for the idea of Cat getting Robbie something for Hanukkah!_

**Character(s):** _Cat, Robbie, Jade, Andre, Tori, Sikowitz, Beck_

**Pairing(s):** _Minor Cabbie, brief Tandre_

* * *

><p><strong>December 20th, 2011<strong>

Cat sat alone on the stairs in the main hallway of Hollywood Arts, looking deep in thought. So deep, that most of the students who passed her by didn't even recognize her and thought she was some new student with the same hair color as her.

Robbie passed by, Rex not in his arms for once, but he quickly backtracked when he realized that girl had been Cat. "Uh, hey, Cat."

Cat, finally snapped away from her surprisingly deep train of thought, looked up at Robbie and smiled. "Hi, Robbie!"

"Are you okay? You looked like you were going to throw up."

"I was just... thinking."

"Oh. I don't think I've ever seen you think that hard," Robbie said, glad that Rex wasn't there to add "or at all" to that.

"Yeah, it was pretty important..." To keep herself from telling him what she was thinking about, Cat asked, "Hanukkah starts tonight, right?"

"Uh huh, at sunset." Robbie nodded, sat down next to her and smiled. "You remembered?"

"Duh, I took notes!" Cat grinned and poked the tip of his nose, as of that was the silliest question he could possibly ask. "So you must be excited. Y'know, for eight straight nights of presents. I had eight presents under my Christmas tree when I counted them last night, but my brother threw one of them out the window because he thought he heard a burglar, but it was just my neighbor's dog."

"... Interesting." Robbie nodded, trying not to point out her brother's weirdness. She probably already knew. "It is pretty cool. I'll probably just get socks that my Mamaw knitted, but beggars can't be choosers, I guess… I should probably get to class."

"Okay, bye Robbie!" She waved as Robbie got back up and walked off, leaving her to realize she had to get to class too.

But she still had no idea what she was going to do...

/ /

"Jade? Jaaaade? Ja-"

"I heard you the first ten times," Jade snapped, shutting her locker and spinning to face the redhead. "What do you want?"

"I have a problem," Cat said in a surprisingly quiet voice, looking down at her bright pink Keds sadly.

Jade raised an eyebrow. "Did the rash come back?"

She shook her head. "No! I want to get Robbie a gift for Hanukkah, but I have no idea what to get him!"

"I hear he could use a social life. Or maybe some chest hair."

"Where can I buy that?"

"..."

/ /

Cat frantically ran into the Black Box Theater. "Andre! Andre!"

Andre looked up from his keyboard stand and smiled at his excitable friend. "What's up, Little Red?"

Cat stopped in front of the stand, panting from having run from her previous class all the way on the other side of the school to there. "I wanna get Robbie a gift for Hanukkah before it starts tonight at sunset!"

"Oh yeah. I knew that... Even though I didn't." Andre really should pay more attention when Robbie talks. "So what's the problem?"

"I don't know what to get him!" Cat rested her chin on the keyboard and pouted. "Jade told me to get him a social life and chest hair, but I looked online and I don't think you can buy that!" She looked up at Andre with big brown eyes and childishly said, "Please help me? I wanna get him something special."

Andre turned his keyboard off and pushed his music sheets aside. "Okay, no need to go all pouty on me. I'll help you think of something."

As he ran a hand over her hair, she grinned up at him and perked herself right up. "Yay! You have an idea?"

"Well, I know he needs a new PearPad... Since I threw his out of our giant cupcake and all."

"Um, do you have any ideas that aren't five hundred dollars?" Cat didn't like Robbie that much.

Though she realized that she liked him a lot more than she used to. But that didn't mean anything.

... Right?

"Well... He does want a date for the Holiday Bash tomorrow. And since nobody is willing to go with him for free, you could always buy him a girl." Andre shrugged. "I hear you can get a Northridger for a reasonably cheap price."

"I don't want to buy him a girl!" Cat frowned. "I wanted to get him something special!"

"... Color Me Pot is having a Christmas sale. They have some legit stuff. Like a little ceramic guitar." Andre smiled and said, "I know _I'd_ like to get one of those."

"No, I can't get something on a Christmas sale! It's a Hanukkah present!"

"Oh, yeah. I don't know what I was thinking," Andre said, acting as if he truly didn't know what he was thinking, since sarcasm would probably just upset her more.

Cat sighed, looking back up at Andre. "Thanks anyway."

Before she could walk away, Andre called out, "Wait, Cat."

She spun around. "Yeah?"

"Look, I know we're supposed to perform the song we wrote in front of everyone tomorrow, but I... I want to sing it for Tori. And if I'm dedicating it to her... I think it'd be better if I sang it solo." Andre sounded nervous to Cat, but at the same time she could tell he was confident in his decision as well. "Is that okay?"

"It's great!" Cat squealed, running around to give Andre a huge hug. "I'm so proud of you! This totally makes up for your suckish gift ideas!"

"... Thanks."

/ /

"Tori! Tori!" Cat cried, running into Sikowitz's class, where they were the first two in the room.

"Cat! Cat!" Tori mimicked, smiling at her friend's hyper franticness. She stood and asked, "What's up?"

Cat joined her side and explained, "I wanna get Robbie a super special Hanukkah present, but I can't think of anything good enough. Please tell me you have an idea!"

Tori's brows furrowed as she tried to think of something. "Well… I hear Color Me Pot-"

"An idea that doesn't involve ceramics?"

"… That doesn't give me a lot to work with, Cat."

Cat gave her a pouty frown. "Tori, I really need your help!"

"I know, Cat, I'm sorry! But before I forget, can-" The musical bell rang, interrupting Tori, and more students began to file in, including Robbie. Cat would have to wait to get more ideas. Cat didn't like waiting.

"Greetings, young individuals," Sikowitz loudly proclaimed as he walked into the room through the back door, carrying a ham sandwich. "Does anyone want this?"

"I do!" Cat cried, getting out of her momentary funk.

Sikowitz took a big bite of the sandwich and, with a full mouth, told her, "You can't always have what you want."

That sent her straight back into her funk.

Cat went to sit in the only open seat left, the lone seat on the left side of the room, and slumped as Sikowitz began talking about how a true actor could stay in character even if somebody sprayed them with a fire hose.

She had really wanted that sandwich.

But she wanted Robbie's special Hanukkah present more.

/ /

When the bell had rung for lunch, Cat told the others to go ahead without her. She had lagged behind, bought herself her own ham sandwich at the Grub Truck after her friends were out of sight, and was trying to think of ideas for Robbie's present. Sitting on the ground, by the pillar near the Grub Truck that wasn't in plain sight, she had the sandwich in one hand, a pencil in the other (which she had accidentally bit into twice, not that that detail is important) and was jotting down notes that could be decent ideas.

The gift ideas she had listed were the following: a vibrating hairbrush, a can of wasabi peas, thermal underwear, and a Jitter Jatter. All were crossed out. Except for the Jitter Jatter, which had a question mark by it, but that was mostly so she could remember to buy one, as she missed the one she had wrapped and given to Beck last Friday.

"Poo." She bit into her sandwich, after making sure it wasn't the pencil, and sadly looked down at her notebook full of scrawled, terrible ideas.

"… Cat?" She looked up, seeing Beck looking down at her, an empty Grub Truck container in his hands. "What are you doing down there?"

"… What are _you_ doing up _there_?" Good one, Cat.

Beck gestured to the direction of their usual table and said, "Sinjin sniffed Jade, so she responded by throwing her tacos at him. I'm getting her new ones because Sinjin scooped them up and ran off." He threw the container in the trashcan next to him and looked back down at the gloomy redhead. "Why are you sitting over here?"

"I'm trying to think of something to get Robbie for Hanukkah. I'm not doing a very good job." Cat looked down at her notebook again, starting to reconsider getting him the vibrating hairbrush. "Robbie is always so nice to me and I wanna give him something great, but I can't think of anything, and I don't wanna sit over there with Robbie, knowing he's gonna have a chizzy Hanukkah 'cause I won't get him his super special Hanukkah present and he'll be stuck with his Mamaw's socks."

Beck nodded, sitting down next to her. "Right. Well, since you helped me with my gift crisis, I'm gonna help you with yours. I think I have an idea."

"Does it have anything to do with Color Me Pot?"

"… No."

"Then please tell me your idea."

Beck leaned back on the pillar and cast her a glance. "Remember how Robbie's been trying to get a date for the Holiday Bash?" He took her pencil and notebook from her.

As he did so, Cat took the opportunity to chew some more of her sandwich. "Yeah. Andre already suggested buying him a girl, but I don't feel comfortable with that and-"

"That's not what I had in mind," Beck told her as he began scribbling something down onto the notebook paper.

"Oh. What are you writing?"

Beck finished up his writing and handed the notebook back to Cat. "What I had in mind."

After taking the notebook back from him, Cat read over the simple statement he had written down, realization slowly crossing her face and making her break out into a huge smile. "Yeah… Yeah, this is perfect!" Cat practically pounced on Beck and gave him the biggest hug possible. "Thank you thank you thank you!" She bounced up and, rocking back and forth on her heels, chirped, "I have to prepare! Go buy Jade her tacos before she hits you! Thank you thank you!"

She ran off before Beck could even say she was welcome.

Or before he could give her the jar of maple syrup he had no idea what to do with.

Maybe his mom would like some maple syrup for Christmas… If he could find a gift bag to put it in, as he was not even going to try to wrap it.

/ /

Later in the afternoon, right around sunset, Robbie was at home, getting ready for the first night of Hanukkah with his family. His grandmother and his uncle Roy were fighting about something that involved kosher foods and his mother was threatening to set his father's hair on fire with one of the menorah candles.

Just a typical Hanukkah in the Shapiro family.

The doorbell suddenly rung, giving Robbie a momentary escape from his freakish family. He sprinted to the door and flung it open, looking quite surprised by who he saw. "Cat?"

"Hi!" Cat was back to her happy self, since Beck's present idea had been the perfect one for Robbie. He was gonna be so pumped!

Was 'pumped' still a cool thing to say?

"What can I do for you this fine, Hanukkah-ish evening?" Robbie asked in a feeble attempt to be smooth.

Cat still laughed. "I wanted to give you your Hanukkah gift, silly willy!"

"You got me a gift?" Robbie was genuinely touched. None of his other friends had really bothered to take interest in his people's most sacred holiday. Cat was the only one who even took even the remotest amount of interest. "Cat, you didn't have to do that."

"I know. You don't get gifts for people because you have to," Cat explained, as if it was the simplest thing in the world. "You get people gifts because you love them!"

Robbie almost fainted at hearing the word 'love' escape a girl's lips in regards to him, but he had learned enough in his adventures in social awkwardness that most of the time girls are talking about platonic love. Not that he was going to reject any form of affection from a pretty girl. "Wow, thanks, Cat!"

"I haven't given it to you yet."

"I know… But I like to be proactive."

Cat giggled, but then cleared her throat. She got down on one knee, gently took his hand and asked, "Robbie Shapiro, will you go to the Holiday Bash with me?"

Those are the words every geeky Jewish boy dreamed of hearing.

"Oh my… This is so unexpected!" Robbie started fanning himself with his free hand, looking absolutely giddy. "Yes, I'd love to!"

Cat bounced back onto her feet and threw her arms around him. "Yaaay! We're gonna have a great time, I promise!" She kissed him on the cheek and unlatched herself before running down the walkway. "Byyeeee!"

Cat's back was turned, so she was unable to see that Robbie had fainted.

/ /

"La la la…" Cat had walked to Robbie's house, so naturally, she had to walk back. She almost called her brother so he could give her a ride home, but she had remembered he had his driver's license revoked when he stole Officer Vega's cop car so-

A beep from her PearPhone interrupted her thoughts. "Yay, somebody wants to talk to me!" She pulled her phone out of the pocket of her shorts and checked her new message.

**New Message From Tori**  
><strong>6:17 PM<strong>

_hey, you still have the lyrics and music for the christmas song you and andre wrote?_

Hmm. As a matter of fact, she did.

**New Response to Tori**  
><strong>6:18 PM<strong>

_yeah! y, do u need them?_

Did Tori want to listen to the song? She knew Andre had wanted to play it for her, so she wasn't sure-

Beep!

**New Response From Tori**  
><strong>6:19 PM<strong>

_i have a plan and i need your help._

Cat _did_ like to help people…


	21. December 21st

**Author's Note: **_This one's even longer than yesterday's. And this also has lyrics to It's Not Christmas Without You, but only partial lyrics, as I didn't think I could add it all. I don't like songfics, so I didn't want to make this like a songfic. But I kind of needed to add the song, so deal with it if you hate songfics, haters._

_jk i love you all._

_This one isn't very funny, but it wasn't really meant to be. This is a biggin'._

**Character(s):** _Andre, Cat, Tori, Jade, Beck, Robbie, Anthony_

**Pairing(s):** _Bade, Cabbie(?), and Tandre_

* * *

><p><strong>December 21st, 2011<strong>

It was the last day of school during the calendar year for the students of Hollywood Arts, and there was a half day so the students could have their Holiday Bash. It had just started, so there were dimmed lights, music, and a snack table with a huge bowl of cheese dip.

Their usual cheese fountain had been banned from all school functions after it had been used at the last Kickback for a weapon. A weapon that sprayed hot cheese in people's hair.

The student's in Anthony's song writing classes had been performing the holiday songs they wrote on top of the main staircase. Almost all the songs had been amazing and earned thunderous applause. The barbershop quartet got about three pity claps.

There were intermissions between each song, so most of the students took a break from dancing and mulled around. Andre was at the snack table, stuffing his face with chips and cheese. He ate when he was nervous.

And boy, was he nervous.

He didn't usually freak out about girls. Keeko and Sherri had been easy to ask out, since all he had to do was smooth talk and tell them he was a musician. Chicks dug musicians.

But this was Tori. Tori was different. She was special. This had to go off without a hitch.

Except he'd probably throw up his cheese and chips halfway through the song. That probably wouldn't be good.

"Hi!" Cat skipped up to him, holding a platter of meat with frilly toothpicks in them. "You're on after the next person! Are you excited?"

"That's one way to put it," Andre quietly said, walking away from the table. Cat followed.

Honestly, he was trying to look for Tori. He hadn't really seen her much that week and he wanted to talk to her before he went on. He sure as gravy wasn't going to tell her what he was about to do, but he just wanted to make sure she didn't go to the bathroom when he started singing.

Not that he thought she'd do that. Tori never missed his performances.

"Christmas beef?" Cat stuck the tray in his face, making it difficult to scan the main hallway. "My brother made it!"

"Yeah, I'll pass." Andre gently pushed the tray away.

By the expression on Cat's face, he might as well have snatched it away and thrown it on the ground. Or a puppy. "Why not?"

"Remember his Valentine's Day duck?" Andre put a hand over his stomach, the memory of that funkish meat making his stomach flop. "I was a mess until he started making Easter chicken fried steak."

"Aww." Cat frowned down at the platter. Her brother had worked so hard on that beef! He used at least three bottles of acrylic paint to make it just the right color!

Maybe Robbie would have some after he came out of the bathroom... He had better come back soon, or else he'd miss the big surprise Tori had for Andre! Nobody would wanna miss that!

She still couldn't believe she had been able to keep the secret from Andre. She usually wasn't good at that. Maybe love had something to do with it.

If there was one thing the Fairly Odd Parents taught Cat, it was that you can't tamper with true love.

That, and that corn is nice.

/ /

The intermission was almost over. Tori was wearing a Santa hat and a trench coat, which got her quite a few looks from other Hollywood Arts students, and let out a deep breath. She turned back to Jade, who was next to her and Beck in the upper staircase, and said, "Um, maybe this wasn't a good idea."

"All my ideas are good."

"Yeah, but... I think I'm going to have an anxiety attack."

"Don't."

"Great advice, babe," Beck quietly said, earning himself a glare from his scary girlfriend. He ignored it. "Look, Tori, it's going to be fine. You're gonna go out there and be amazing and Andre's gonna love it. Okay?"

Tori let out a deep breath, but nodded. "Okay. Thanks, you guys."

As she slowly made her way down the staircase, Jade cast Beck a relatively deadly look. "Oh, so now Vega's amazing? I bet if I was going to sing, you'd say-"

Beck interrupted by holding a finger up to her lips and saying, "That you'd be the best one out there and no one could even come close to comparison."

"... Ugh." Jade pushed his finger away. "Why are you so lame?"

"I love you too."

/ /

After putting her headset on and making her way down to the Christmas tree they had set up twenty days ago, Anthony made his way back up, a microphone in his hands. "Okay, quiet down, everybody," he said, gesturing for the audience of students to shut the heck up with his free hand. "Now, one of my star students, Tori Vega, was supposed to perform her song with her partner Courtney Van Cleef, but due to Miss Van Cleef's severe laryngitis, she will be performing solo."

Tori convincingly nodded, but winked at Courtney as soon as he turned away from her. They had agreed to tell Anthony that beforehand so it would be less suspicious when Tori starting singing a completely different song to a guy she liked, which was one thing Anthony did not know about.

Courtney was actually kind of decent, once you got past the fact that her brother was a huge nut block.

As he began to walk back down the steps, he announced, "So here she is, Tori Vega, singing _Christmas Pants_!"

There was another reason why Tori was glad she wasn't singing the song she and Courtney wrote.

The students standing in the hallway let out wild cheers and whoops, and Tori just sort of stood there and nervously waved. What she was about to do was finally starting to sink in. "Hi, everyone." Tori clasped her hands together. "While I _will_ be singing for you, I won't be singing… _Christmas Pants_."

Robbie, who had come back long ago, muttered, "Christmas pants?" between bites of Christmas beef.

"Shh!" Cat popped another piece of Christmas beef into her date's mouth and looked over at Andre to see his reaction when Tori would say-

"Actually, I'm going to sing _It's Not Christmas Without You_, an original song that was recently written by Andre Harris."

Andre dropped the handful of chips he had just scooped into his hand onto the floor.

Tori looked right at him and, all of a sudden, the butterflies in her stomach vanished. "Andre, I listened to the song last night… It was the most beautiful Christmas song I have ever heard." Tori grasped the belt keeping her trench coat tied and smiled. "It was genuine. It was from the heart. And I want you to hear it from my heart too."

To Andre's surprise, after hearing that, he didn't toss his cheese like he thought he was going to.

As the music started playing, Tori removed the coat, revealing the sparkly red top, knee high boots and candy cane striped shorts and scarf she was wearing. "_Carolers singin', sleigh bells are ringin', it's that time of _year…" She started to dance, her glance still locked with Andre's.

As she continued to sing, the weight that had been on Andre's shoulder for two weeks seemed to be instantly lifted. Tori liked him back.

"_Something's missing and I'm wishing, wishing that you knew, just how much it would mean to spend this Christmastime with you_…"

Tori Vega, one of the most amazing girls he had ever met in his sixteen years of life, felt the same way about him as he felt about her. It was a feeling he had never felt before, so it was strange, but he knew it felt good.

"'_Cause it's Christmas, and the start of something new_…"

Wait, what was he going to sing? He couldn't very well sing the same song right after she did. How could he go up against _that_?

"… _And I hope you feel it too_."

"I do!" Andre blurted out without thinking about it, but he was drowned out by the instrumentals and the sounds of the dancing feet of his peers as they jammed out to the zesty beats Tori was laying down.

At least that's how Robbie would have described it.

"_All of it means nothing, without you_." Tori pointed at Andre, returning the huge smile he was giving her.

Andre looked over at Cat, who had put down her brother's beef and was dancing with Robbie. "Cat." Robbie stopped spinning her and Cat smiled at her friend. "Did you know about this?"

"Maaaybeeee…" Cat bobbed back and forth on the heels of her feet, making her lie even more obvious. Not that it wasn't obvious before.

"…'_Cause it would mean so much to spend this Christmastime with you_."

"Harris," a voice behind him called out. He spun around to find Jade there, holding out a light up microphone to him.

"_Just trust your heart, 'cause I can't wait to hear you say_…"

"If Vega can put it all on the line, then you can too."

Jade… She was right. Tori had made the first move. She had taken a big leap in their formerly platonic relationship. That wasn't fair. She deserved more than him just standing there looking like a dope.

"_Well it's Christmas, and I hope you feel it too_…"

"Gimme that." Andre gave Jade a thankful smile as he handed her the microphone and, the words flowing perfectly out of his mouth, belted out, "_Everyone together sings, silver bells and golden rings_," as he slowly made his way up the staircase and to the girl he had fallen head over heels for. "_All of it means nothing_…"

Their two voices became one as they looked into each other's eyes and sang, "_Without yooouuu_…"

Cat and Robbie had gone back to dancing with pretty much everybody else at the Bash. Jade, on the other hand, had walked back over to Beck, who was waiting for her by his locker and watching his friends dance and sing together in perfect harmony. "You're nicer than you give yourself credit for."

He wrapped his arm around her waist and she just grumbled something unintelligible. Something she probably shouldn't have said.

"Seriously. I'm proud of you." Beck tilted her chin up so she'd actually look at him and, over Andre and Tori's voices, told her, "And you would have sung it _way_ better than Tori."

Dang. It was like he could read her mind and knew just what to say.

Maybe that's why she put up with his lameness.

But his lips were really warm, so all his lameness was totally worth it.

"_It's not Christmaaaaas withoooout yooouuuu_." As soon as the song ended, they wrapped their arms around each other in a much more loving manner than they ever had before and their friends and peers gave the duo the loudest applause out of any other performance they had heard that day. How could they not? It was by far the best!

And the most interesting. Anthony sure seemed like it had given him something to think about.

He walked back up to the two, specifically looking at Tori. "I'm pretty sure that's not how _Christmas Pants_ went."

Andre and Tori separated, and Tori suddenly looked guilty for deceiving her teacher. "Well... I just, uh-"

"There's no need to fidget." Anthony smiled at her. "I totally got what you did."

"… You did?"

"You wanted to show me how powerful Andre's song could be when sung between two people with such chemistry. It… It really made the song."

"It did?" Tori cleared her throat and quickly added, "I mean yeah, of course it did."

"Andre..." Anthony sighed, crossing his arms. "I was wrong to grade you and Cat so harshly. After hearing the song again… It doesn't deserve a D."

Dude, this had to be the best day of Andre's life. "Wh-What _did_ it deserve?"

Anthony uncrossed his arms, slowly smiled and held out his hand. "An A."

Andre couldn't even hear Cat's excited squeal of delight, as there was more applause and he was pretty sure his head was going to explode from joy. He managed to give Anthony a man hug and then went back to give Tori another hug.

"So… You wrote me a song, huh?" Tori quietly asked as the crowd began to calm down.

"Yeah… You sing it better than me though."

Tori laughed, resting her head on his shoulder. Being in Andre's arms, in a way she had barely been able to imagine a few days ago… It felt amazing.

Andre could only sum up his emotions in seven words.

"This is the best Holiday Bash ever."

* * *

><p><em>This fic ended up being a lot more Tandre-ier than I thought. Curse my love of Tandre and their adorableness. <em>

_Sorry if you don't particularly like Tandre. I'll try to write more about something besides Tandre._

_Unless y'all want more Tandre?_

_Or less?_

_I'LL WRITE WHATEVER THE WAZZ I WANT. _

_... iloveyouguys._


	22. December 22nd

**Author's Note:** _After this chapter, I'm gonna do one of someone besides Andre and Tori, but I think we needed kind of an aftermath, don't you think?_

_No?_

_Well, that's what you're gonna get._

**Character(s):** _Andre and Tori_

**Pairing(s):** _Tandre_

* * *

><p><strong>December 22nd, 2011<strong>

"Here you go, dude," the heavily pierced, pink and black haired barista monotonically said as she handed the two lidded cups to Andre. "One peppermint mocha, one caffè macchiato and one gingerbread cookie."

Andre smiled as he accepted the drinks she had called him to get. "Thanks. Have a merry Christmas."

"If you ever tell me what to do again, I'll spray whipped cream in your face."

"... Uh, okay." Andre slowly backed away, wondering what got her bra in a bunch.

Then again, he'd be grumpy too if his name was Ursula.

Maybe his beautiful new girlfriend could make him forget the scary barista.

"Thanks." Tori grinned as Andre handed her the mocha and gingerbread man he ordered for her and sat down next to her on the leather couch she saved for them. "Skybucks has the best peppermint mochas."

Andre shrugged, allowing her to lean into him as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "I think I'd like this place better if they had Belgian cocoa."

"Do I need to send you to Cocoaholics Anonymous?" Tori smirked, resting her head on Andre's shoulder and putting both hands around her drink.

"Nah. I'm busy enough with my ketchup abuse support group," Andre said, bringing his cup up to his lips as Tori laughed and drank some of her coffee as well.

At first glance, things between them didn't seem so different. They were having just as much fun as they had when they were just friends, but being able to hold her hand and know that she's all his, that made all the difference to Andre. He could tell Tori felt the same way by how she was all snuggled up to him.

But despite how things were still the same, there was one difference that hadn't happened yet.

Andre rubbed his hand up and down her back, making Tori lift her head off his shoulder and smile at him. He leaned closer to her, his lips puckered so he could kiss her for the first time.

Mmm. Her lip gloss tasted like gingerbread.

Wait. Lip gloss is sticky and doesn't leave crumbs on his face.

Andre pulled away and, after opening his eyes, saw that she had used her gingerbread man as a barrier between their lips.

What the haberdashery? Why was he being denied sweet Tori kisses?

"Wow, you really got into that kiss, huh?" Tori pulled the cookie back and laughed, leaning back into the couch. "I'm gonna have to keep you away from anthropomorphic baked goods if I want to keep you to myself."

"Well, I was aiming for something a little sweeter, but Mister Gingerbread Jerk apparently wanted you for himself."

"Judging from that kiss, I think it's you he wanted."

Andre never realized how weird their conversations were. Keeko mostly spoke in broken English, so talking to her was hard, and Sherri wasn't really interested in talking.

Andre wanted a girlfriend he could have actual discussions with, and Tori was that girl, but he had teenage boy urges. He needed a little something-something!

"Tor, c'mon, what's wrong?" Andre rested his arm on the back of the couch. "I thought you wanted this."

Tori looked back at him apologetically. "No, no, I totally do! And I'm glad we're going out now... but yesterday, after your grandmother called, told you aliens were stealing the socks in her dryer and made you leave the Holiday Bash early to help her make tinfoil hats, I started thinking. About us."

Usually when a girl started thinking 'about us', it didn't end well. Andre knew this from experience.

"Well, we're entering a new stage in our relationship." Tori looked down at her cup, unsure of how she was supposed to word what she was trying to say. "And I'm really excited for it, but I'm scared at the same time."

Andre removed his arm from the back of the couch and around his girlfriend's shoulder. "Baby, don't be scared. No matter what happens, we're gonna be okay. Remember that."

Tori gave him a small smile and placed her head back on his shoulder. "I know that now. But I can tell that this is going to be special. And if we're going to start this off, we need to start it right."

Andre glanced down at her, eyebrow cocked. "And how do you propose we do that?"

"We're all going to Beck's parents' New Year's Eve party, right?" Andre nodded and Tori continued, "Well, I want to start this year off right." She sat her slobber covered cookie on the arm of the couch and rested her now free hand on Andre's knee.

"And, I repeat, how do you propose we do that?"

"When the clock strikes midnight that big shiny ball thingy drops and you're done shoving pigs in a blanket down into your tummy," Tori started, poking him in the belly. That didn't make him feel any better about Jade's accusations of him being fat. "I want you and I to share our very first kiss."

"You want to wait 'til New Year's?"

Tori nodded. "Yeah. Wouldn't our first kiss be a great way to start off the year?"

"... Yeah." Andre smiled down at her. "It totally would. I'm dating a deep chick. Yay for me."

Tori grinned, snuggling closer to him. "Oh, come on. Sherri seemed kind of deep. She at least tried to get deep into your mouth."

Truer words have never been spoken. Last Andre heard, Sherri had to get surgery on her mouth and tongue because her latest boyfriend still had braces.

"So... There isn't a Mrs. Gingerbread Jerk, is there?" Andre looked at the cookie Tori had sat down and added, "I don't want her coming after me with a gingerbread rolling pin or whatever it is housewives brutally bludgeon people with."

They really did have weird conversations, but they always made him and Tori laugh. And in the end, that meant a lot to Andre.

And so would their kiss.

But he wouldn't mind if Tori maybe wanted to cheat and kiss a little early.

No, the New Year's thing would be special.

But Andre _really_ wanted to kiss someone that wasn't fattening and frosting covered.

Wah.


	23. December 23rd

**Author's Note: **_I got to open a present early. IT was the Glee Concert DVD. It is also the reason why this wasn't up earlier._

_Haters gonna hate._

**Character(s): **_Jade, Cat and Beck_

**Pairing(s):** _Bade, Cabbie hints_

* * *

><p><strong>December 23rd, 2011<strong>

"What the halibut is this cookie cutter supposed to be? A dead squirrel?"

"No! It's a penguin with a cute little hat on!"

"... I liked it better when I thought it was a squirrel. That was dead."

Cat just smiled and shook her head. Jade was such a funny friend! Always making hilarious jokes...

Too bad she never really knew they weren't jokes.

It was the second day of their winter break, so Cat had come to Jade's house and kidnapped ("I mean CATnapped, hee hee!" "I'll go with you if you swear that you'll never say that again.") her.

Why?

To help her bake Christmas cookies.

Jade almost wished she had actually been kidnapped and was being tortured. That would have been more fun than mixing ingredients and rolling dough.

But beating eggs was kind of fun. She got to beat something without having the cops called on her.

Cat was busy punching different shapes out of the dough Jade had just rolled. Jade was rooting through Cat's fridge, trying to find something to drink. If she was being Catnapped, she might as well get some free beverages out of it.

She wasn't the best cooking making helper, Cat knew that, but it was okay. She liked having Jade's company anyway.

And she knew Jade liked it too, even though she wouldn't admit it.

"These are gonna be the best cookies ever!" Cat placed the pieces of dough shaped like candy canes, ornaments, Christmas lights, and penguins with little hats that Jade still liked to think were dead squirrels onto the cookie sheet. "All the other cookies are gonna go home to their mommies and cry like big babies!"

"Yeah, because cookies are completely capable of conveying feelings of anguish." Jade pulled a can of Wahoo Punch out and shut the fridge. "Those things ready for baking or what?"

"Uh huh!" Cat popped them into the oven and turned back to Jade. "After they're done and they cool off, we can frost them and make them pretty!"

"Yay." Jade took a sip of her punch and walked into the living room. Cat followed.

Cat jumped onto her couch and grabbed the remote. "Wanna watch TV? I bet there are tons of specials on! Like the one with that mean green guy or the one with the snowman that comes to life or the one-"

As Jade plopped down next to her, Jade sat her drink down, crossed her arms and told her, "Try and find that one with the freak reindeer that everyone makes fun of and excludes. I like that one."

"Kaykay!" Cat started flipping through the channels and Jade sunk further into the plush of the couch.

She loved how all those other jerky reindeers made fun of that weirdo with the illuminated growth on his nose.

But then he goes and saves Christmas and ruins the movie completely for Jade.

Bah.

/ /

"Where's your wing-bat brother?"

The cookies were baked and cooled off by then, so Cat was decorating cookies. Jade somehow found herself decorating a few too. Just so she could show off her artistic skills. Because if Jade was one thing, it was artsy.

If being 'artsy' was a different, less straight up way to describe being completely horrifying.

But while icing the cookies in her own Jade West way, she had realized that she and Cat were alone in her big house.

"Oh, my parents had to take my brother to see a special doctor, because he went to the mall to sit on Santa's lap, but Santa pushed him off because he was too big and he smelled weird, so my brother got on the second level, above Santa's Village, and jumped over the railing so he could-"

"Okay, I'm going to leave the rest of this fascinating tale to my imagination, as the actual ending to it will probably just leave me disappointed."

"Kaykay!" Cat gave her Santa cookie a smiley face and looked back at her best friend. "Where was your family? It didn't look like anyone was at your house when I Ca- kidnapped you."

Jade shrugged, drizzling red frosting all over her cookie. "My father and his frilly wife went out to get some last minute shopping in before they make me go with them to her ugly parents' house for Christmas with her nauseating family. And my brother's with my mom, because she wants him to spend Christmas with her and her family."

Cat noticed she didn't particularly insult her mom's side of the family. That was significant, when it came to Jade. "Why don't you go with them?"

"My mom and brother?" Cat nodded. "I couldn't even if I wanted to. My aunt Gloria has a restraining order against me."

"Aww. Why?"

"The judge says I'm not allowed to talk about it."

"Oh." Cat nodded in understanding. Quite a few of her relatives didn't want to be around her brother. Especially her grandparents, after that one time when they gave him a clarinet for his birthday and he didn't like that so he threw it at a bee hive and-

"Your cookies look like an elf threw up on them."

Cat looked down at her cookies, a plethora of candy canes and penguins in various colored knit hats, and smiled. "Thanks!"

"That wasn't a compliment."

"I still appreciate it."

Jade resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "... So, uh, there's something I've been wondering since the Holiday Bash."

Cat looked up and blinked innocently. "Yeah?"

"Are you and Robbie going out now?" Jade squirted an ample amount of frosting on her penguin. "If you say anything other than no, I'll violently vomit all over you and your elf vomit cookies."

"Ew."

Jade let out a huff of a breath. "That's not an answer."

"Well, uh... I don't know. I don't think so."

"Good." Jade sat one cookie down to pick up another. "I'm pretty sure the world would implode if Robbie Shapiro got a girlfriend."

Cat let out the lightest of laughs, but looked back down at her plate with a sad little frown. Was it bad that she kind of _wanted_ to be Robbie's girlfriend?

According to popular opinion, yes.

Jade rolled her eyes and finished up the last drip of red icing for her cookie. "Ugh, finally. They're done."

Cat hadn't really paid much attention to her friend's cookies, since she had been too busy working on her cookies to do that, so after putting her cookies neatly on a plate, she walked over to see what Jade had created. She almost lost her lunch when she saw Jade's… creations.

"Oh my god, Santa's face is bleeding!" Cat started screaming and ran out of the kitchen, up the steps, and into her brother's panic room.

Yeah, he had one of those.

"Oh, come on," Jade yelled up the steps, her plate of cookies in her hands. "I didn't make any of them _bleed_ to death!"

Well, one of the penguins kind of looked like it.

And the dead squirrel she made was… Well, dead.

/ /

"Beck, let me in." Jade's fist pounded on the metal door of Beck's RV. "Come on, I'm not wearing my boots today, so I can't kick your door down." She stood outside the recreational vehicle, the plate of cookies she had made in her free hand.

If Beck didn't open his freaky door, he wasn't going to get any of her bleeding Santa cookies.

"If you don't open up, I'm taking these cookies and throwing them at that elderly couple I saw walk by, so you'd better-"

"Jade?" She turned around to find him at the front door of his parents' house, looking at her with slight amusement. "Uh, I'm in here."

"I can see that now." Jade sauntered over to him, allowing him to give her a quick kiss. "Why?"

"I was putting my presents for my parents under the tree while they're all out." Beck stood out of the way so Jade could enter the house first. "What brings you to my lovely abode this fine December's evening?"

"That sounded like something Robbie would say." Jade sat the plate of cookies on the kitchen counter and went to join Beck in the living room.

"Sooo, care to explain why you brought me Christmas cookies, even though you hate Christmas and baked goods? "

Jade sat next to him on the couch. "For that exact reason. I wasn't going to eat them."

"Why'd you make them?"

"Cat kidnapped me and made me bake cookies against my will."

"Ah." Beck nodded and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "I seriously can't imagine you decorating Christmas cookies. That's like thinking about my grandpa doing something besides scowling."

"Yeah, well. I didn't decorate them the conventional way."

Before Beck could ask what that meant, he heard the front door open and shut. "Beck, sweetheart, I'm home!"

"Hi, Mom," Beck called out, since he couldn't see her as she walked through the grand foyer and into the kitchen. "I got your presents under the tree."

"Oh, honey, you didn't have to get your father and I any-" Mrs. Oliver stopped mid-sentence, and the only thing that could be heard from her after that was her screaming and running out of the kitchen and up the steps.

Beck, seeming quite startled by his usually collected mother spazzing out like that, got up and looked up the stairs, even though she was long gone by that point. "What the wonk was that about?"

Jade had walked back into the kitchen by that point, where she was quickly able to see what had frightened her boyfriend's mother so vastly.

"Looks like your mom found my Christmas cookies."


	24. December 24th

**Author's Note:** _Merry Christmas Eve! Let's see which one of the Vega sisters win Christmas!_

_Or maybe the true winner of Christmas is everyone that gets to spend time with their loved ones._

_-showered with rotten tomatoes-_

**Character(s):** _Trina, Mrs. Vega, Tori_

**Pairing(s):** _Torina sisterness and briefly mentioned Tandre_

* * *

><p><strong>December 24th, 2011<strong>

"Mooooom!" Trina cried, running down the steps as fast as she could in four inch heels. "Moooooooom! MOO-"

"Trina, sweetheart, I'm right here!" Mrs. Vega exclaimed, coming out of the kitchen and barely being able to squeeze through and walk around the huge tree her eldest daughter had picked out. She blamed herself for putting Trina in charge of decorating. She should have known she'd get the biggest, most obnoxious tree in the world. It matched her personality.

Not that she didn't love Trina. Of course she did, she was her daughter. But the fact that she and her husband were willing to let Tori leave her in Yerba sort of said something, didn't it?

"Oh, hi." Trina put on her biggest, most heartwarming smile, which Mrs. Vega was not buying for even one tiny millisecond, and clasped her hands in front of her. "I, uh, couldn't help but notice that Tori and I have the same amount of gifts."

Mrs. Vega's brows furrowed. "Yes. You both do. Thank you for catching me up."

Before she could walk away, Trina held out her hands and cried, "Wait wait wait! That's not all!"

Oh God, why her?

"I was just thinking, you know, I'm a year older than Tori." Trina held up one finger, as if she thought her mother couldn't comprehend how much one was. "That's one year of maturity over my dear little sister and one more year of enjoyment you and Dad had with me without Tori getting in the way. So I should at least get one more present than her."

Mrs. Vega let out a combination of a groan and a sigh. "Trina, honey." She put her hands on her daughter's shoulders so she'd focus. "We love both you and your sister equally. That's why you both have the same amount of presents."

"... Get me another present so I can win Christmas!"

Mrs. Vega sighed and let go of her daughter's shoulders. "I'm going to pick your aunt Sonya up at the airport."

As she grabbed her purse and headed for the door, Trina stomped behind her. "Aunt Sonya got here yesterday!"

"I know. Bye!" Mrs. Vega shuffled out and shut the door in Trina's face before she could follow her out and demand more presents.

Trina, in a blind fury, kicked the door as hard as she could. After hobbling over to the kitchen in her open toed heels and getting some ice for her possibly broken toe, Trina started to scheme.

Did Tori get the same amount of stuff that she did for the same budget? Did she get better stuff?

Oh, Trina was not going to take that sitting down.

/ /

Trina poked her head into the back entrance of the house, scanned the area to make sure the coast was clear, then threw the door open so she could get in without banging her new device on a wall.

What was the new device, you ask?

Oh, just the biggest metal detector Trina could manage to find, that's all.

She stomped through the kitchen, managed to squeeze it past her huge old tree, and walked over to the side with her and Tori's presents. "Let's see who's the favorite," she muttered to herself, turning the metal detector on and placing the disk over Tori's biggest present.

"Okay, this one doesn't sound expensive," Trina grumbled as she dragged the detector over some more gifts, which let out more beeps than it had before. "Oh, that one sounds like jewelry... No, I think it's cubic zirconium."

Trina snorted and, in a mocking tone, quietly sing songed, "Haha, Tori got cubic zirconium!"

Because she totally knew it was cubic zirconium. Why would their parents waste actual gems on Tori?

"Come on, let's see if this thing can detect new laptops or not..."

"Trina?"

Barely able to keep herself from letting the metal detector fall to the floor, she out a noise that could only be described as a squawk and spun around. Tori was standing in the front door, staring at Trina with confusion, but not shock. Tori was actually just surprised this had never happened before.

"Hey, Tori!" Trina waved, trying her best to act casually. "What up?"

"I could ask the same thing, but I think I already know."

"Uh... I thought you were hanging out at Andre's house."

"His grandmother came over and started freaking out because she thought his little sister's gingerbread cookies were shrunken tan corpses. Andre said I should probably just go home because she'd think I was next and that would just freak her out more." Tori slid her hoodie off and hung it up. "Are you trying to see if your presents are better than mine?"

"... No."

"Then why do you have a metal detector?" Tori asked, pointing to said metal detector.

"... No reason."

"Really. No reason."

Trina rolled her eyes. Her sister was paranoid. "Oh, what, a girl can't stand in the middle of the living room with a metal detector and do nothing without being treated like a criminal?"

Tori sighed, walking up to join her sister by the ginormous tree. "Are you still trying to win Christmas?"

"Maybe."

"Trina."

"Yes." Might as well admit it. "I deserve to win! Did you even bother to borrow a metal detector from Mr. Busey? Yeah, I didn't think so!"

"Trina, Dad told us not to talk to Mr. Busey anymore," Tori reminded her, crossing her arms.

"Oh, it's fine, I didn't ask him for it. I stole it from his shed."

Tori gave her sister an incredulous look and shook her head. "My God, even during the time of year you're supposed to give, you are the most selfish person I have ever met!"

"I'm not selfish! I just deserve more gifts than you do!" Trina argued.

Tori groaned, throwing her arms in the air. "I give up. You're impossible! If you want to win Christmas so battin' bad, here!" Tori picked up a gift at random and handed it to Trina. "Congratulations, you win!"

Trina, who had laid the metal detector down at that point, gently took the present, looking unsure for once in her life. "Wh-Why? Don't you want to win Christmas?"

"Will you quit with the winning Christmas thing?" Tori angrily pleaded. "You can't win a holiday just because you get more presents! And quite frankly, I'd give you all of my presents just so I wouldn't have to hear your whining!"

"... You would?" Trina asked, breaking out in a huge grin. More presents! Yay!

"Ugh!" Tori spun around and stormed up the steps.

What a fine Christmas Eve this was turning out to be.

/ /

"Trina? Triiiinaaa?"

Tori's parents were going to be back any second to start celebrating Christmas with their immediate family, and she was trying to find her sister, who she hadn't really seen since she stormed away from her.

Tori was starting to think she had overreacted. Trina couldn't help how annoying and self-centered she was. Baby, she was born that way.

Tori was pretty sure that song wasn't about being an obnoxious gank, but it was close, she supposed.

"Trina, Mom and Dad are going to be back any min-" Tori stopped at Trina's open bedroom door, seeing Trina was sitting on the floor, a large shoebox in her lap. Trina gently rooted through the various items in the box, a deep, thoughtful expression on her face. "Uh, Trina?"

"Yeah?" Trina quietly asked, not bothering to look up.

"Whatcha got there?"

Trina sighed, looking up at her little sister. "I'm sorry about before. It's not your fault that I'm competitive and better at winning competitions than you."

"Tha-That's okay," Tori said, willing to take any apology Trina gave her. "It's one of the things that make you... unique."

Trina remembered that Tori had asked her a question, so she said, "This is a box I've had for a while. It's my Stuff I Stole From People box."

Surely enough, Tori saw that scribbled on the side in childish handwriting in red crayon.

"There's all the toys and stuff in here that I was jealous other kids had and I didn't. Including one toy from you, one I think you should have back."

Trina pulled out a long, lanky doll out and held it up for Tori to see.

"My Jeannie Linguini doll?" Tori took the twiggy toy out of her sister's hands, sat down across from her and quietly said, "I haven't seen this in, like, ten years. I thought I lost her."

"Yeah, no. I was jealous that you had one and I didn't." Trina shrugged and muttered, "Actually, I was always jealous of you when you were little."

Tori looked up from stroking the doll's yellow plastic hair. "Really?"

"Yeah, you always had more friends than I did. Everyone seemed to like you more and you always did stuff better than me..." Trina regained her overly confident tone and said, "Looks like you peaked early, huh?"

"Yeah... Yeah, I definitely did." Tori gave her sister a sad smile. "Thanks for giving Jeannie back, Trina."

Trina shrugged. "She's just been taking up space in that box for ten years."

Tori could tell that even giving her a toy she had stuffed in a box under her bed for a decade killed Trina. That made it even more meaningful. "Look, Mom and Dad are going to be home soon, so we should probably get ready."

"Oh, right. Gotta look my best when I win Christmas!"

If Tori ever heard the words 'win' and 'Christmas' in the same sentence, she swore that she'd start smacking someone with a trout.

But it's Christmas Eve. No trout slapping.

"See you downstairs," Tori said, standing up with her old new doll in her hands.

As she walked out the door, she heard Trina say, "Giving you that dumb doll back doesn't mean you can have my new gift back!"

"Would expect anything else, Trina-rina."

* * *

><p><em>In my head canon, Trina only acts so arrogant because she's insecure about having such a talented little sister when she herself isn't nearly as talented. She acts like she's in love with herself because if she didn't, she'd hate herself.<em>

_But this is a comedy. And it's Christmas Eve, so let's not bum ourselves out._

_My head canon also says that Beck is terrible at wrapping gifts. That's so totally canon and nobody should dare deny it._

_Okay, you can._


	25. December 25th

**Author's Note:** _Merry Christmas! This is the day you've all been waiting for!_

_Just to warn you all, this isn't exactly like the other chapters, with hearty chuckle and good times all around. This is more of the Merry Christmas Drake and Josh of A December to Remember. It's a little more serious, but we still have a laugh every now and then. And hopefully it's somewhere close to being as heartwarming as McD&J._

**Character(s):** _Beck, Jade, Mr. Oliver, Mrs. Oliver, Beck's sister (mostly added for comic relief)_

**Pairing(s):** _Bade all the way across the sky. Intense._

* * *

><p><strong>December 25th, 2011<strong>

"Oh, wow, son... This gift looks really... wrapped."

Beck sighed, leaning farther back into the couch. "Dad, I get it, I'm not good at wrapping presents. You don't have to make me feel bad about it."

"Why not?" His sister plopped down next to him on the couch with a plate of gingerbread cookies and a giggle. "Looking at it makes the rest of us feel bad."

Beck responded to that little jab by tugging her Santa hat down over her eyes and taking one of her cookies.

What? Beck didn't have to be a saint all the time.

"Dear, don't be mean to your brother," Mrs. Oliver told her daughter as she sat down on the love seat with her husband. "It's Christmas."

Speaking of which, if he didn't call Jade before ten, she'd think he had forgotten about her and yell at him for it until President's Day. He wouldn't want that, now would he?

"You guys start opening gifts without me." Beck pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and told them, "I just need to call Jade real quick."

Before he could get up, his father asked, "The girl who got you that dog that attacked me?" Mr. Oliver frowned. "You know, if you wanted to save yourself the trouble of creating this paper monstrosity, you could have just broken up with her as my gift. You wouldn't have had to wrap that."

Oh geez. It was Father's Day all over again.

"Aww, come on, Daddy," Beck's little sister said between bites of gingerbread. "She brought us cookies the other day. That was nice of her."

"Pumpkin, when you saw those gory baked goods, you cried so hard that you threw up in the kitchen sink."

"... They tasted good when I closed my eyes. And after I gargled."

Beck sighed and leaned closer to his sister so he could quietly say, "Thanks for trying, sis," before gently flicking her nose and getting up to call Jade in the other room.

Luckily, Jade was on his speed dial, so he didn't have to keep her waiting any longer than he had to. He knew by then that Jade did not like waiting.

"Ugh. Hey."

"Well ho ho ho to you too, babe." Beck settled down in one of the comfy chairs in the sitting room. "I just wanted to say merry Christmas before you leave with your dad and step mom, so I guess I'll have to give you your gift-"

"My dad and his wife already left."

"Oh. So you're in the car with them?"

"No."

"You're driving behind them?"

"No."

"... I don't, uh-"

"My dad said I couldn't come."

Beck straightened up in his chair, ignoring his sister's squeals of delight at whatever she had just unwrapped. "Wait a second. I thought you were supposed to go with them."

"Well, don't you have an elephant's memory, you flappin' genius." He could hear her sigh into the phone. "Look, my stepmother called her parents earlier. When she mentioned I was coming with them, her mom started hyperventilating and her dad said that if I came, he was hiding in his bomb shelter until I left."

"What did you do to them during your last visit to make them so afraid of you?" Beck asked.

"... They overreacted."

"What did you do." He didn't even bother stating that as a question. It was an order.

"... I set their bed on fire."

Why did Beck ask? _Why?_

Rubbing his forehead and shutting his eyes, Beck quietly asked, "And why would you do that?"

"I didn't like their duvet. It was a floral print."

"Of course it was." He knew for a fact that Jade hated floral prints, or anything that had to do with flowers. It was on the list he made a year or so ago of all the things she hated. The list was thirty nine pages long so far. "So, they just left you there? Your dad left his only daughter alone on Christmas day?"

"Beck." Jade's voice didn't have its usual bitterness in it. That wasn't a good sign. "I didn't want to go anyway. I don't care."

She cared. Beck could tell. She may not have wanted to go to her step grandparents' house, but being abandoned on the most important family holiday of the year could make anyone feel like wonk. Even Jade West.

"Do you want me to come over?"

"No."

She might as well have screamed yes yes dear God YES into his ear.

"Okay. Just call me if you need anything." Beck ran a hand through his hair and quietly added, "I love you."

"Whatever." And with that affectionate farewell, Jade hung up.

Beck sat, his PearPhone still to his ear, for a few moments of thought, but eventually slid it back in his pocket.

Nobody deserved to be alone on Christmas. Especially not Jade.

Anyone else would say 'not even Jade', but Beck wasn't anyone else, was he?

He wandered back into the living room, where his family had barely made a dent in their massive piles of presents. His mother saw his standing there, so she smiled and gestured to his present pile by the couch. "Beck, sweetheart, come open some of your presents!"

Beck, looking unsure at first but slowly gaining confidence in his decision, shook his head. "I'll open them later."

As he got his car keys off the key tree, his sister leaned over the back of the couch. "Where are you going?"

"I need to be with Jade."

Before he could take one more step, his father called out, "Beck, come back here. You're not going to abandon your family for some girl."

He turned around to look at his father and firmly told him, "You guys will be fine. Jade needs me more."

He walked off before his father could get another word in on the matter.

As they heard the front door shut, the three remaining Olivers remained silent for a moment, until the youngest finally spoke up.

"Does this mean I'm the favorite now?"

/ /

"This movie has a really disappointing ending." Jade shook her head in disgust. "That stupid kid didn't even shoot his eye out. Hollywood doesn't know how to make a satisfying Christmas movie."

After turning off the TV and throwing the remote at her stepmother's favorite vase, Jade settled back into the couch and took her coffee cup into her hands.

She liked this Christmas. It was quiet. It was like that song, Silent Night.

Jade hated that song, but she liked silence. Yep.

The only sound she heard for three minutes was the ticking of the clock and of her sipping her coffee.

... She was starting to hate silence.

For once, she was glad the doorbell rang.

Setting her coffee down, she slowly got up to answer the door. When she did, she let out a breath and muttered, "I told you I didn't want you to come over."

"I didn't listen. You're not the only one who can do that." Beck smirked, hands tucked into his pockets. "I thought you might need some Christmas cheer."

"It's like you've never met me." Jade leaned against the side of the front door and observed what her boyfriend was wearing. "I see you like the sweater I got you."

"I do."

"It looks way better on you than it did on Andre."

"What?"

"Nothing, come in." She stepped out of the way slightly so her boyfriend could squeeze through.

After the door was shut and they were in the living room, Beck noticed the TV remote next to the remains of the new Mrs. West's vase and looked up at Jade. "Accident?"

"You could say that."

"Mhmm." Jade sat back down on the couch and Beck joined her. "Do you want to talk about-"

"No."

"I figured that much." Beck wrapped an arm around her and she slowly settled into him. "My sister liked your cookies."

"I'm surprised she didn't throw up."

"... She did at first. But then she gargled and ate them with her eyes closed."

"God love that kid."

There was silence between them for a while, but this silence Jade liked. The previous silence had been deafening, but silence between her and Beck was never really awkward like it should have been. It was just comfortable. It might have had something to do with the way he ran his hand across her back and played with the ends of her loose curls, or maybe it was just because silence meant that they weren't fighting.

Either way, Jade didn't mind it.

Beck, for some reason that Jade instantly hated, calmly asked, "Who are those presents for?"

Jade looked at the presents under the tree with an eye roll. "My stupid fluffy stepmother. I'm gonna sell them on the internet when I get the chance. Or beat them into pulp with my dad's good golf clubs. I haven't really decided yet."

"I see." Beck pulled back and looked at his girlfriend. "Well, I hopefully have a present for you that you won't want to pulverize."

Jade would have said something along the lines of 'gimme', but that would make her sound childish. And children are terrible people. So she didn't say anything.

He pulled a small box out of his pocket and held it out to her. "I got this for you a month or so ago, but I wanted to save it for now."

Jade slowly took the box. "You know I hate waiting."

"I think this will have been worth it."

Jade slowly opened the box, taking in what was in it. It was a necklace, a simple silver chain, but attached was a beautiful lowercase b charm.

"You got me a J necklace for our anniversary." Beck picked up said necklace and its small black charm from around his neck, held it up and smiled at her. "If I'm branded, it's only fair for you to be too."

Jade, for once, didn't have on her usual snarky look. She didn't look all girly and daffodil-like either, just because her boyfriend got her a piece of jewelry, because Jade West didn't roll that way. But her walls had been brought down enough that day, and it was just Beck, so she could act a little touched, right?

"I'm going to pretend your silence is a stunned one and that you're in love with it and you totally don't want to throw something at me." Beck smirked as he took the necklace out of the box and unlatched it. Jade combed her hair out of the way and let him put it on her. "Just think if this as a symbol."

A symbol of what? Jade didn't even have a chance to ask. Not that should would have. Asking questions such as that was below her.

Beck leaned closer to her, so close that their foreheads were touching, and oh so gently told her, "A symbol that no matter what, you'll never be alone."

How did he always know what to say to her? Why was he so amazing and what the flap had she ever done to deserve him?

Oh geez, that was terribly daffodil-ish. Jade was momentarily ashamed of herself for that.

But she didn't have time for her shame, because she quietly said three little words she had never told Beck, in all the time they had been dating.

"I love you."

Beck looked at her for a moment, but gave her a small smile, one that looked pretty suppressed as to not make her feel too embarrassed, and told her, "I love you too."

At that moment, Jade was really glad she had set that duvet on fire.

Even more glad than she had been before.

* * *

><p><em>lol what a crappy chapter Christmas is ruined.<em>

_There, I did it for you guys so you wouldn't have to. Merry Christmas!_

_Beck's sister sure is a vague character, huh? I mean, she could be five for all we know. Or fourteen and adopted and short and one of the stars of the fanfic Just Go With It that I cowrite with the lovely srslyitzcaroline._

_I don't even know if I spelled that right. Flab._


	26. December 26th

**Author's Note:** _Filler. Filler filler dear golly filler._

_still in post-Christmas nirvana. please don't hate me._

**Character(s):** _Cat_

**Pairing(s):** _Cat and her Jitter Jatter_

* * *

><p><strong>December 26th, 2011<strong>

"Haha, yay!" Cat watched her brand new Jitter Jatter bob back and forth as she sat cross legged in the middle of her living room. "Thank you for all my presents, Mom! I got everything I wanted!"

Cat's mother emerged from the kitchen and smiled at her daughter. "I'm just glad you had a good Christmas, sweetheart. Especially after the little… _mishap_ with your brother."

Cat frowned and nodded. "Yeah, but that wasn't really his fault. Grandpa provoked him."

"I suppose." Mrs. Valentine grabbed her keys and started walking toward the door. "Your father's already out in the car. "Are you sure you don't want to visit your brother and grandfather in the hospital?"

Cat looked up at her mother and nodded. "Yeah. Grandpa says I creep him out."

"He's eighty seven, dear. Everything that moves creeps him out."

Oh yeah.

Before Cat's mother could take another step, she looked back down at her daughter and told her, "Oh, and since you're staying here, could you please try to do something about the post-Christmas mess?"

Cat, in a pile of ripped wrapping paper, tissue paper tossed this way and that, paper plates with small scraps of chips and dip left on them, quietly asked, "What mess?"

Mrs. Valentine shook her head, beginning to question having held her breath so much when she had been pregnant with Cat, and just silently walked out of the house.

"Bye, Mommy!" Cat happily waved, as if she hadn't even noticed her mother's dissatisfaction, and went back to playing with her Jitter Jatter. After a few seconds of dancing around and making its odd little chirps and squeaks, it suddenly jerked to a halt. "Jitter Jatter?" Cat tapped the bright pink toy. "Hello?"

Cat tapped it a little harder that time. Nothing.

"Poo. You must be out of batteries."

How could that darn stinkin' toy be out of juice already? She had just unwrapped it yesterday morning! That wasn't even twenty four hours ago!

I mean, she had played with it all morning. And all afternoon. And she hadn't even gotten much sleep. She had stayed up playing with… her new straightening iron.

But she quickly took a break so she could play with her Jitter Jatter for another two straight hours, while she had left the straightener on and almost set her shag rug on fire.

But that still wasn't much.

If it was, it would explain why her dad was waiting in the car to go to the hospital at five thirty in the morning.

Cat stood up to go into the kitchen to find some more batteries, but it was as if not being mesmerized by her brand new obsession made her see things for how they really were. And what she saw was a big, post-Christmas mess.

The debacle between her brother and grandfather didn't exactly help tidy things up around the house.

"I guess I should clean up." Cat frowned. "Phooey."

Wait! Cleaning didn't have to be a bad thing. It could be fun! If anyone could make something fun, it was Cat Valentine!

But even she couldn't make cleaning chizz up fun with her spunky nature alone. She'd need some help.

"To my room! Woosh!"

/ /

After heroically skipping up the stairs and into her sanctuary and orange and pink delight, she grabbed and slipped on what she needed and hopped back downstairs.

It was simple, since she had put on her Jupiter Boots.

Why had she put on her Jupiter Boots, you ask?

Bouncing made everything more fun!

"Boing, boing!" Cat bounced on over to a closet near the front door and pulled out a garbage bag. "Okay house, time to get cleaned!"

She hopped back into the living room and started to gather up a handful of paper. She stuffed it into her bag and repeated her actions. She kept hopping around and gathering up trash, but grew tired of the whole thing after a while. Too bad she wasn't even halfway done.

"Huff." Cat looked at the remaining mess and quietly muttered, "Even the Jupiter Boots don't make this fun."

There had to be an even easier way. One that didn't require so much… Well, work. She was still in the Christmas spirit and Christmas spirit made one very, very lazy when it came to household chores.

Seriously, she was pretty sure that they've done studies on that before.

But never fear, she had another idea!

"To my dad's garage! Boing, boing!"

/ /

Cat bounced back through the garage door, dragging her dad's shop vacuum along with her. "This has got to be powerful enough to suck all this stuff up!"

After plugging the industrial strength vacuum in, she flipped the switch and pointed the hose at a rather large pile of scrap papers. "Byyeee, Christmas wrappings!" The vacuum made a loud noise as it consumed the paper, but it only made Cat laugh more as she moved the hose to and fro, sucking up paper, ribbons, bows, gifts tags, crumpled up napkins and her brother's left sock.

Why did Cat find this so amusing? Even she questioned that.

Well, it_ was_ kind of like the garbage was disappearing into a black hole or it was being sucked into the belly of some rolling hose beast. That was kind of cool.

"Why don't more people clean up like this?" Cat asked herself over the loud sucking, beaming with joy by how much better the living room looked. "This isn't so bad! It's like a big, fun sucking game!"

And it just kept getting funner and funner… Until she accidentally moved the hose a little too far and caught the garland from the tree into it.

"Uh oh." Cat's eyes widened and she tried tugging it away. "Okay, the tree doesn't need to be cleaned, Mister Vacuum! No need to suck it up!"

However, that darn shop vac refused to listen and started ripping the shiny garland off the tree, along with the popcorn strand she had worked so hard on.

Vacuums are not very compliant devices.

As more and more came unraveled from the tree and knocked off several ornaments and just caused a frenzy, Cat squealed and tried her hardest to yank the hose away and stop the chaos, but Cat's efforts were unsuccessful.

That is, until she tried to hop away, but one of her Jupiter Boots snagged on the cord, tripping her and unplugging the vacuum.

Maybe there was a reason people didn't clean like that all the time.

After getting up, taking off her bouncy shoes, shoving the vacuum back into the garage and shuffling back into the living room, she took in all the broken glass, ripped off branches, and pieces of popcorn that the vacuum hadn't eaten up.

"I… I think that's clean enough."

A freakish chirp interrupted her, and she looked down at her Jitter Jatter, which was surprisingly unharmed. Its antenna bobbed back and forth and its eyes lit up, making Cat's eyes light up as well.

"Hey, your batteries aren't dead!" Cat kneeled back down and picked the child's plaything up. "You were just taking a nap!"

She could understand that. Her brother took naps a lot. Especially after he took his special medicine.

"Let's go play upstairs!" Cat bounced up the steps, and she didn't even need she Jupiter Boots to do so.

After she shut her bedroom door, the tree fell over completely.

What a great way for Mr. and Mrs. Valentine to be greeted when they walked into the house.


	27. December 27th

**Author's Note:** _This one isn't quite as great either, but it addresses an issue a few reviewers have been curious about. Hopefully this clears the air!_

**Character(s):** _Robbie and Beck_

**Pairing(s):** _Rock friendship, mentioned Cabbie_

* * *

><p><strong>December 27th, 2011<strong>

Robbie, after having peddled for quite some time, hopped off his bike and propped it up against Beck's RV. His relatives were going to be at his house until Hanukkah was over the next day, and quite frankly, he couldn't stand anymore of his Uncle Ahab's war stories or his Aunt Deb's kreplach. A teenage boy could only eat so much kreplach before the mere sight of it made him woozy.

So that's why he had to get away from the insanity. And the kreplach.

He was pretty sure Beck didn't have any kreplach.

He rang the doorbell and as he waited, he decided to text Rex and see if he was having fun with his relatives.

No reply. Weird.

As he slipped the phone back in his pocket, Beck opened the door. "Oh. Hey, Rob." He leaned against the open door. "What's up?"

"I needed to get away from my family. Are you busy?"

"Nah."

"You don't have kreplach, do you?"

"… No. I've got all my shots." Beck walked back inside the RV, and Robbie took that as Beck inviting him in. "Um, I was going to do some stuff for Jade, but we can hang out if-"

"Oh, uh, no, that's okay." Robbie shook his head. "You should probably do… whatever."

Beck let out a sigh of relief as he tucked his wallet into the pocket of his jeans. "Great, because I wasn't planning on not going."

Robbie could understand that. Jade was frightening when she didn't get her way.

"But you're welcome to come, if you really want to." Beck threw on a thin jacket, since even Los Angeles got nippy every now and then. "You'll probably get bored, but-"

"Nah, I'm totally down for whatever." Was it cool to say 'totally down'? Robbie was sure it was. "Anything is better than being around my certifiably insane relatives and being exposed to copious amounts of kreplach."

Beck nodded, an unsure look on his face. "Yeah. Judging by the name, I wouldn't want to be exposed to that either. Whatever it is."

As both boys walked out the door, Beck grabbed a scarf that was a various array of colors and looked as if it had been knitted by someone with no hands who had to use their feet. Even Robbie knew it was tacky.

"Uh, where did you get that scarf?" Robbie almost expected him to say he had stolen it from Sikowitz.

"My sister made me this for me for Christmas," Beck quietly said, wrapping the scarf around his neck. "She wanted to give knitting a shot and I promised her I'd wear it."

Robbie picked up on end of the scarf, but quickly put it back down. "It's quite an eyesore."

"… I know."

/ /

"So, Jade is making you go out and spend all of her gift cards for her?" Robbie brushed past a rack of clothes on some after Christmas clearance sale as he followed Beck through some store in the mall with a name he couldn't even pronounce.

Beck nodded, not looking up from the rack of clothes he was rifling through in an attempt to find the sizes Jade had told him. "Yeah."

"Why?"

Beck shrugged as he grabbed some clothes that he figured Jade would like. They were black, after all. "Jade hates the lack of creativity that buying a gift card for somebody involves. She also hates shopping. But she likes getting stuff, so she just sort of told me I had to spend all her gift cards and get her something decent."

"And you just went along with it?"

Beck shrugged. "Sure."

"Wow. Having a girlfriend sounds hard."

Beck tossed the clothes onto the counter and as the girl behind the counter started checking out, he looked back at Robbie. "You have no idea."

Robbie smirked and nodded, looking as if he had the upper hand. "That must be the reason why I don't have a girlfriend."

"Yeah…" Beck handed the girl the appropriate gift card, looked back at Robbie, and not at all sarcastically said, "_That's _the reason."

Ha.

Robbie knew it.

/ /

After having gone to as many stores as they could possibly manage to go to, Beck decided it wouldn't hurt if they tapped into a Skybucks gift card he had gotten from his Uncle Barbra.

If he had used one of Jade's, he knew that would end disastrously. She loved her some coffee.

The girlfriend talk kind of had Robbie thinking. Not the usual depressing thoughts about how he would die alone and no woman would ever love him in any sort of way whatsoever, but thoughts of the girl he had gone to the Holiday Bash with.

He had a really good time, sure, but… He just always thought going out with Cat would be different. But it seemed like they were just hanging out, like they usually did. Nothing felt different.

Expect his stomach. Which was still kind of a mess from all that Christmas beef he had eaten.

"Beck… Can I ask you something?"

"You just did."

Robbie huffed. "Beck, come on, even I think that's lame."

Beck handed Ursula the punkish barista his gift card and told Robbie, "Okay, okay. Ask away."

"Um, well, you know how Cat and I sort of went out, right?"

"Yeah, kinda," Beck told him, even though he darn well knew that he was pretty much responsible for it, because he was awesome like that.

"I… I had fun, but it just didn't feel right."

"You did eat a lot of her brother's Christmas beef." Ursula held out their coffees to him and he graciously took them. "Thanks."

"That scarf looks like bile."

"… I know." Beck handed one of the coffees to the hand that wasn't filled with shopping bags. There was another reason Robbie was welcome to come with him. "So why didn't it feel right?"

As they walked out of the coffee shop, Robbie shrugged. "I dunno, it just didn't. I want a girlfriend, and Cat's so sweet and fluffy and I don't creep her out_ completely_…"

Beck drank some of his beverage, making sure not to dump the seventy three shopping bags he had in his hands. Beck never knew how his girlfriend had gotten so many gift cards. Not that many people liked her.

Maybe people got her gifts out of fear.

That seemed plausible.

"Look, I know you want a girlfriend, especially since you never shut up about it, but you shouldn't force feelings that aren't there just so you aren't single." Why was it that lately all he and Robbie talked about was relationships and all that fluff? When they were either eating frozen yogurt or shopping for teenage girl's clothing, nonetheless?

"Are you sure? Having a girlfriend sounds really nifty."

"Nifty?"

"Yeah. What's wrong with saying nifty?"

"… What's _right _with saying nifty?" Beck gave his friend a small smirk and added, "Having a girlfriend isn't always all it's cracked up to be, Rob."

"I have a hard time believing that," Robbie muttered, bringing his coffee up to his lips.

"Robbie. What have we been doing for the past hour."

"Walking around this very crowded mall, buying stuff for your girlfriend because she didn't want to." Robbie stared at Beck for a moment, wondering what his point was, but he didn't have to wonder for long. "Oooooh…"

"Yeah, you're getting it now, huh."

"Yep… I think being single isn't the worst thing in the world."

"It really isn't… Now, come on, we've got like three more store to go to."

Yeeeah… Friendship with Cat and friendship alone was looking better and better…


	28. December 28th

**Author's Note:** This one isn't very good, but I've been packing all day as I'm going on a little trip tomorrow and Friday and I'll be back on New Year's Eve. Hopefully, I can still update. If not, you'll either get the chapters a little early or a little late. But you'll get the big finale right on time! :D

**Character(s):** Jade and Tori

**Pairing(s):** Jori friendship, mentioned Tandre

* * *

><p><strong>December 28th, 2011<strong>

Jade, despite having told herself that she wouldn't open them until she got the boxes and packing tape so she could properly sell them on the internet, had just opened the presents her step mother had gotten her for Christmas. All of them made her want to slap small children with trout.

Seriously, if you had seen the clothes that wacky nut block had gotten her and tried to imagine them on Jade, you would have laughed your nubs off. They were so… bleh. What other word could she use to describe them?

Almost all of them were… pink. PINK. Had the woman never met her?

Well, she had. And that's how Jade knew that she bought her such hideous clothes to annoy her.

That had to be the answer. Had to be.

"A poncho?" Jade tossed the magenta scrap of fabric aside. "Was there a sale back in 2005?"

She was starting to wish she had opened them when her dad and stepmother came home, so she could properly yell at her with the appropriate amount of rage. How dare she ruin her plans?

Gah.

"Okay…" Jade got up off the living room floor and walked up the steps to her room. After pulling a glass box she had received the other day out of her bag, she took the shiny, sharp item out of the box and a fond smile crept onto her face. "Time to give this bad boy a test drive."

What bad boy, you ask? The new scissors Cat had given her for Christmas.

But they were not just your ordinary, run of the mill scissors. Like she had told Beck, they were special scissors.

What made them so special was that they were from a movie. Her favorite movie in the entire flapping world. _The Scissoring_.

You've seen that one, right? The one about the girl who was brutally murdered and came back from the dead to take her two best friends with her. Using the very scissors Jade removed from their glass case and held in her hands.

"Destroying that eye vomit will be the perfect christening for you." Jade gave her special scissors a good snip and began her journey back down the steps. As she walked past the front door once again, the doorbell rang.

Ugh. Jade still hated that chizzin' doorbell.

She walked past the door without even bothering to look through the tiny window to see who it was. Whoever it was, they weren't nearly as important as chopping the fluffy feminine clothes her stepmother with her special new scissors.

Nothing was more important than destroying janky gifts.

Jade sat back down on the living room floor, scissors in hand, and was about to start hacking up the poncho when she heard footsteps. Her brother was still with her mom and her dad and stepmother were supposed to be gone for the rest of the day. He never cancelled plans that didn't involve her.

Holy halibut, somebody's in her house.

Putting her new scissors safely on the couch and pulling one of her many pairs of old scissors out of their hiding spot taped underneath the coffee table, Jade quickly got up and walked toward the wall that was right around the corner from the lobby.

As she flattened herself against the wall, she prepared herself for whatever she was going to face. It might be an axe murderer or a door to door knife salesman or something.

When she jumped around the corner and threw her weapon of choice at her intruder, she saw somebody worse than an axe murderer.

"Vega?"

She wished it would have been an axe murderer instead.

"What are you doing here?" Jade demanded, ignoring the girl's scream of fright as the scissors narrowly dodged her head and jammed their way into the wall near the front door. "Who just walks into somebody's house without being let in?"

"Um, you do!"

"Yeah, but I'm allowed to do that kind of stuff."

Putting her hand over her heart in an attempt to keep it from jumping out of her chest, Tori asked, "Why? Because you're rude all the time anyway and I'm not?"

"You're smarter than I give you credit for." Jade stomped past her to retrieve her scissors. "What up with breaking into my house?"

"Technically, you have to tamper with a lock to break into somebody's house. The door wasn't locked."

"Yes, thank you for that, Tori. I really was concerned I hadn't used the right term for that." Jade walked back into her living room, allowing Tori to follow her. Kicking her out would have required too much effort.

"So... Whatcha doing?"

"You came all this way to ask me that?" Jade sat back down. "You have less of a social life than Shaprio, huh?"

Tori's lips tightened as she tried not to take offense to that. It didn't work. "Okay, I actually came here for a reason." She say down on the couch. "I just wanted to thank you. For helping out with things between me and Andre."

Jade shrugged. "It was nothing."

"No, it's not. Andre told me you talked to him too. We might not have gotten together if you hadn't bossed us around in your usual Jade West fashion. So thank you."

Jade took that first crisp snip in the sparkly fabric of the hideous girly poncho, barely shrugged and told her, "I didn't do that to get your approval."

"I know. And that makes it mean even more to me." Tori smiled down at Jade, and Jade surprisingly didn't glare a hole through her forehead. She sure didn't look thrilled though.

"Vega. I just ate a chicken salad sandwich. Don't make me hurl it back up on your face." Jade had reduced the out of date item of clothing to mere shreds of fabric by that point. It still wasn't enough.

"Alrighty then." Tori was starting to question why she had come. She wasn't nearly as scared of her as she was when they had first encountered, she actually wasn't scared of her at all anymore, but she still wasn't always sure how to talk to her. "Sooo... Hacking some clothing there, I see."

Jade chopped the poncho strips into poncho chunks. "Yep."

"Why?"

"They offend me."

"I see. Do you want help?"

"Nah."

"... Oh, look at that, I think it's time for me to go." Tori stood up, looking at her pretend watch. "But seriously, thanks."

Jade's eyes remained on the next frilly piece of fabric that she had pulled into her lap as she quietly muttered, "You're welcome."

Tori couldn't help but smile, which Jade thankfully couldn't see, as she started walking toward the door she had previously walked through without permission.

Maybe she and Jade were finally becoming friends.

Or maybe Jade was just too giddy from cutting up nauseating clothes to be too mean to her.

Nah, Tori liked to think it was the first one.


	29. December 29th

**Author's Note:** _I'm baaaaaack!_

_Gatlinburg was great, but I'm so glad to be home! And back to writing! Brace yourself for the next two!_

**Character(s):** _Sikowitz, Tori, Robbie, Andre and his grandma, Jade, and Cat_

**Pairing(s):**_ None._

* * *

><p><strong>December 29th, 2011<strong>

Walking out of his person shaped doorway, Erwin Sikowitz strolled over to his mirror, adjusted his top hat and smiled at himself. He was the only person he knew that could rock the whole Charles Darwin style of clothing. It was one of the many things about himself that amazed him.

Know what else amazed him? Scented pinecones. Pinecones don't naturally smell like cinnamon! What sort of witchcraft was that?

After he gave a quick pip pip and doodly doo to his mirror reflection, Sikowitz strolled out the front door of his house, his book of Christmas yodels in his hands.

You know what time it is?

Time to spread yodely Christmas cheer, that's what time it is, you goofy nugget!

The citizens of Los Angeles had better hold onto their pants.

/ /

The first house he went to was the one of the star students of his class. A certain Miss Tori Vega and her lovely, lovely cheekbones.

He rang the doorbell exactly seventeen times and began doing vocal warm ups as he waited for someone to answer the door. Most of those exercises consisted of 'me me me me meeee's and strange hacking noises. But they weren't strange to him. Nothing was.

After his last hack, somebody finally opened the door and, lucky for him, it was Tori. "Sikowitz?" Tori straightened her off the shoulder sweater and looked at her teacher in confusion. "What are you doing here? How do you know where I live? And why are you dressed like a chimney sweep?"

Instead of answering her questions, as one normally should, the balding teacher instead started belting out the yodelized version of Deck the Halls. "Yodel lay hee yodel lay hee, yodel lay dee lay-"

By the look on her face, he could just tell she was blown away. Absolutely shocked by his beautiful yodeling. That had to be it.

As he paused to take a breath, Tori oh so rudely interrupted his beautiful rendition of a classic Christmas carol. "What… Why are you… I don't even-"

"I can see you clearly enjoyed my Christmas yodeling!" Sikowitz beamed with pride at her. "Now please button your facial hole so I can finish my Christmas diddy."

Before he could start back up, she interrupted again. What up with that? "Uh, you do realize Christmas ended almost a week ago, right?"

He blinked to that. "What is your point?"

It was Tori's turn to blink in confusion. "Well, uh, it's just that… By this time, most people don't really do Christmas stuff anymore."

"They don't?"

Tori shook her head slowly. "No. They mostly get ready for the new year and try to stop shoving sugary foods down their throats."

"… Yodel lay hee, yodel-"

Hey, the door just shut. That was odd. Surely she wouldn't have just left him out there without offering him some figgy pudding!

Meh, her door must be broken.

Oh well. He could go to another student's house. Not all of their doors could be broken.

/ /

Knock knock knock! Come on out, Robbie Shapiro, so that you could have your awkward face yodeled up by your lovely improv teacher!

Sikowitz was too busy doing his vocal exercises to yell that through the locked door himself.

Somebody finally opened the door and it was thankfully Robbie. So Sikowitz immediately started his rendition of Jingle Bells before Robbie could even open his mouth to question his strange attire and the lyric folder in his hands. "Yodel lay, yodel lay, yodel lay hee lay-"

"Aw man!" Robbie groaned and looked up to the sky. "Christmas yodeling? Really, Sikowitz? You were here two weeks ago! And you came during Thanksgiving too!"

"You're welcome!" Sikowitz smiled, completely unaware of the ventriloquist's annoyance. "The best way to spread Christmas cheer is yodeling loud for all to hear! I'm pretty sure I heard that in a movie once. Either that or I made it up. I do that a lot."

"Christmas ended days ago!"

"Yes, I know. I went over that with Tori several minutes ago." Sikowitz adjusted his fancy hat and asked, "Now may I continue my yuletide yodel?"

Robbie looked as if he was trying to think of an excuse, but he turned his head back into the house. "What's that, Mom?" Sikowitz didn't hear a female voice beckon the curly haired boy. Odd. "Oh, okay, I'll be right there! Sorry Sikowitz, gotta help my mom shampoo my dad's toupee, okay see you at school bye!"

Wow, he had never seen Robbie move so fast. That toupee must have been in dire need of cleansing.

Oh well. Next house!

/ /

"Knockle doodle doo!" Sikowitz exclaimed, knocking on the door, even though there was a perfectly good doorbell right there. "I'm here to spread Christmas carols via yodeling!"

The door flew open, but the person who answered it wasn't who he was expecting. "You're not Andre."

Charlotte Harris blinked her wide eyes at the strange man before her, and that only sent her into a bigger panic than she already seemed to be in. "Why would I be Andre? I thought I was me!"

"I, well-"

"Where's Andre? Why are you looking for him? Are you from the government? I can't handle this!"

She barreled into Sikowitz, knocking him straight off his feet. As she ran off screaming and flapping her arms, Andre went racing after her, not even noticing what had stressed his grandmother out so much. "Grandma, would you stop running away every time the front door's open? There's a reason we keep it locked!"

Sikowitz sat up in the grass and, after Andre and his emotionally disturbed grandmother were out of sight, grabbed his hat.

Aww. He had it placed on his head all nice and fancy.

Maybe he should go yodel for a student that didn't have an insane relative.

/ /

The next door he rapidly rang the doorbell to was roughly thrown open, followed by a harsh "_What_?" coming from a very harsh Jade West.

Sleigh Ride time! "Yodel lay hee yodel lay yodel lay-"

Slam.

Maybe he should go yodel for a student that didn't hate Christmas.

Or him.

/ /

Okay, one more house. He was going to one more house of one of his beloved students. If this one ended up being another bust, which he doubted, then he was giving up. Until Valentine's Day, at least.

Speaking of Valentines…

Cat answered the door, already smiling, but her smile grew once she saw Sikowitz. He didn't give her the chance to start rambling about every single thing she had done over winter break, so he started the yodeled version of Have a Holly Jolly Christmas. "Yodel yodel, yodel lay hee, yodel lay hee yodel hee-"

Cat instantly started clapping her hands and giggling insanely as Sikowitz continued his tune, getting louder and more obnoxious as he kept going. "Yay! This is even better than when you did it on Easter!"

And that is the story of how Sikowitz got invited into Cat's house for some figgy pudding.

He knew he liked Cat for a reason.

Yodel lay hee, yodel loo.


	30. December 30th

**Author's Note: **_This one's a little different. No actual interaction, but it's all through a lovely website known as TheSlap! Hurray!_

**Character(s):** _Beck, Tori, Andre, Jade, Cat, Robbie, Sinjin_

**Pairing(s): **Ba_de, Tandre, miiiinor Cabbie if you want to see it that way_

* * *

><p><strong>December 30th, 2011<strong>

_**The Slap: What's Hot Hollywood Arts!**_

**Beck Oliver:** Helping my parents get ready for their New Year's Eve party tomorrow. Can't wait for it. It's gonna be awesome! : )

**^ Tori Vega and four other like this**

**Comments:**

**Tori Vega: **Thanks for the invite, Beck! This party is going to be amazing.

**Andre Harris:** You bet it is… Wink wink, nudge nudge.

**Tori Vega:** I'm dating a freak. :P

**Beck Oliver:** Welcome to my world, Tori.

**Jade West:** When I first read that little comment, I considered flipping my chizz on you, but this necklace is hypnotizing me. It's making me not want to snap and kill you.

**Beck Oliver:** Money well spent. (:

* * *

><p><strong>Cat Valentine- Beck Oliver:<strong> Hi, Beck! Need anything for the party? I'm gonna be at the store to get my brother some Funky Nut Blast so I'd be happy to pick some stuff up for you! :D

**Comments:**

**Beck Oliver:** Yeah, thanks, that'd be great. Uh, my dad wanted me to make guacamole, so I'll need avocados and onion. And tortilla chips. And maybe some salsa, in case people don't like guac. And French onion dip and potato chips in case people don't like Mexican dips. And maybe some sodas?

**Cat Valentine:** Golly wolly, that's a lot of stuff. I dunno if I have enough money in my purse for that…

**Beck Oliver:** I'll bake some red velvet cupcakes for you. If you buy the mix for me.

**Cat Valentine:** Oooooh, kaykay! You're the best, Beck! :D

**Beck Oliver:** I've been told that. ;)

* * *

><p><strong>Trina Vega- Beck Oliver:<strong> Hey, thanks for inviting me to your little party! I have other plans, but I'm flattered, really.

**Comments:**

**Beck Oliver:** Uh, I didn't invite you.

**Trina Vega:** Oh, sure you did! Why wouldn't you?

**Beck Oliver:** Because I don't like you.

**Trina Vega:** But… That can't be right! I'm so pretty and kissable!

**Beck Oliver:** I have a girlfriend.

**Trina Vega:** So?

**Jade West:** So I'll dump guacamole down your shirt if you come and try to smash yourself against my boyfriend.

**Trina Vega:** Well then! I'm GLAD I'm not going!

**Jade West:** So is everyone else that was actually invited.

* * *

><p><strong>Robbie Shapiro- Beck Oliver:<strong> So, your sister's going to be at the party, right?

**Comments:**

**Beck Oliver:** Uh, yeah. She lives in the house it's being hosted in.

**Robbie Shapiro:** Right, right. So… How's she been doing? She's sure getting pretty.

**Beck Oliver:** Robbie Shapiro, stay away from my sister.

**Robbie Shapiro:** I didn't mean it like that! I was just asking how she was! I haven't seen her in a while.

**Beck Oliver:** Oh. Well, she's doing pretty good, I guess.

**Robbie Shapiro:** Good, good… Does she have a boyfriend?

**Beck Oliver:** Do you want to come to the party or not?

**Robbie Shapiro:** Kidding! I'm going to take your advice and embrace my singleness.

**Beck Oliver:** Well then. Okay, good for you, man.

**Robbie Shapiro:** Yeah… Your sister's not that much younger than me, right?

**Beck Oliver:** I'm going to lock my sister in the basement tomorrow night.

**Robbie Shapiro:** Gosh, you really can't take a joke, huh?

* * *

><p><strong>Beck Oliver:<strong> Cat just dropped off party stuff. And cupcake stuff. Anybody know how to turn an oven on? I don't think I've ever actually used one.

**^ Andre Harris and three others like this**

* * *

><p><strong>Cat Valentine- Robbie Shapiro:<strong> Hey, you wanna carpool to Beck's party?

**^ Robbie Shapiro likes this**

**Comments:**

**Robbie Shapiro:** Yeah, sure! That's be great. Especially since I don't have a car.

**Cat Valentine:** Whatever happened to that car your uncle gave you?

**Robbie Shapiro:** Mean street thugs stole it and made me cry.

**Cat Valentine:** Aww. ): I'll give you one of my red velvet cupcakes I'm getting from Beck tomorrow!

**Robbie Shapiro**: Yeah, that'll make up for it… Thanks Cat. (:

* * *

><p><strong>Trina Vega- Beck Oliver:<strong> Please let me come to the party!

**Beck Oliver:** No.

**Trina Vega:** Fine! Like I would have wanted to come anyway!

* * *

><p><strong>Tori Vega:<strong> Tomorrow night is quickly approaching… Time to do some lip ups.

**^ Andre Harris likes this**

**Comments:**

**Robbie Shapiro:** What are lip ups?

**Tori Vega:** Some kissing exercises I found out about on the internet.

**Robbie Shapiro:** Oh. Can you give me a link?

**Jade West:** You people give me stomach pains.

**Tori Vega:** Oh, just look at your necklace.

**Jade West:** I'm not taking orders from you.

**Tori Vega:** Tell me I'm talentless and have weird cheekbones.

**Jade West:** … Chizz.

* * *

><p><strong>Trina Vega- Beck Oliver:<strong> Please?

**Beck Oliver:** No.

**Trina Vega:** FINE I DIDN'T WANNA GO ANYWAY.

* * *

><p><strong>Sinjin Van Cleef- Jade West:<strong> I'll see you at the party, I guess. Maybe when the ball drops we could share a kiss?

**Jade West:** You're not invited.

**Sinjin Van Cleef:** Hold hands?

**Jade West:** You're not going.

**Sinjin Van Cleef:** Exchange glances?

**Jade West:** I hate you.

**Sinjin Van Cleef:** Okay, I'll see you there!

* * *

><p><strong>Trina Vega- Andre Harris:<strong> Andy, you have to get me into Beck's party!

**Comments:**

**Andre Harris:** Really? My name is at the top of the page in huge letters and you STILL got it wrong?

**Trina Vega:** I have no idea what you're talking about, so I'm going to ignore you. Tori won't do it, so make him invite me!

**Andre Harris:** I can't do that.

**Trina Vega:** Why not?

**Andre Harris:** Because then you'd be there. Why would anyone want that?

**Trina Vega:** I'm pretty! Why are you people having a hard time comprehending that?

**Andre Harris:** I'm not getting you invited to the party.

**Trina Vega:** FINE I WOULDN'T GO EVEN IF HE BEGGED ME!

* * *

><p><strong>Jade West<strong>: Finally got my dress for the party. The rest of you might as well wear burlap sacks to the party tomorrow. It'd be an improvement for most of you.

**^ Beck Oliver and Cat Valentine like this**

**Comments: **

**Beck Oliver: **Can't wait to see it, babe. (:

**Cat Valentine:** Me either! I bet you'll look really pretty! But is it okay if I wear a dress instead of a burlap sack?

**Jade West:** No.

**Cat Valentine:** Aww. Poo. :c

**Beck Oliver:** Cat, please don't show up in a burlap sack. My parents won't let you around here anymore.

**Cat Valentine:** Oh, yay! That's great, 'cause I don't know what burlap is.

**Jade West:** Of course you don't.

* * *

><p><strong>Beck Oliver:<strong> Food's all prepared, cupcakes are done, I;m wearing my mom's cooking apron… I feel like a woman.

**^ Jade West and four others like this**

**Comments: **

**Jade West:** You look like one too.

**Beck Oliver:** That's not a nice thing to say to your loving boyfriend.

**Jade West:** I'm just saying, a haircut wouldn't kill you.

**Trina Vega:** Can't I just go for like fifteen minutes.

**Beck Oliver:** For the last time, NO.

**Jade West:** NO ONE LIKES YOU.

**Trina Vega:** FINE I BET IT'LL BE JANK WITHOUT ME THERE ANYWAY!

* * *

><p><em>See you on New Year's Eve!<em>


	31. December 31st

**Author's Note:** _This is it, everyone. This is the big finale. Our last hurrah. I actually felt sad typing the last word of this. _

_Hopefully you guys won't kill me in case this ends up being terrible._

**Character(s):** _Tori, Jade, Beck, Andre, Cat, Robbie_

**Pairing(s):** _Tandre, Bade, Cabbie friendship/something else?_

* * *

><p><strong>December 31th, 2011<strong>

Tori Vega stood by the snack table, trying to decide whether to eat the onion dip or the guacamole. She quickly cancelled out the onion dip, since Andre wouldn't like to kiss some girl that tasted like a big, gross onion. But she knew he wasn't a fan of avocado, so he wouldn't like her tasting like the green mush either. Nothing else looked good and she was so hungry, but-

"Hey, Vega," a voice called out as Tori heard high heels click clacking toward her. She turned to see Jade behind her, looking quite stunning in her black halter dress, except for the pair of scissors that was in her hand. Those just made her look armed and dangerous. "You look like you're about to pee yourself."

"I'm desperately trying not to." Tori nervously fiddled with the sparkling star charm on the end of her necklace. "Oh God, I'm so nervous, Jade. This is a big night."

Jade raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow to that. "You making a New Year's resolution to stop devouring other girls' boyfriends?"

"Jade!" Tori let go of the star and stared at her incredulously. "I'm with Andre now! Can't you let the alphabet improve thing between me and Beck go already?"

Jape snipped her scissors at nothing in particular with an unimpressed expression on her face. "Sheesh. Somebody's got a bit of a temper, eh?"

Did she just say 'eh'?

Her stupid Canadian boyfriend was starting to rub off on her.

Good thing she had just finished chopping up his equally Canadian parents' dining room curtains up to smithereens. That was always a fun stress reliever.

"Can I at least tell you why I'm nervous?"

"Ugh. Fine. I'll try and pretend I care about your petty problems."

"You know what, I'll take that." Tori sighed, smoothening out her short pink sleeveless party dress. "Andre and I kind of agreed that we'd wait to have our first kiss tonight, at midnight."

"Seriously?" Tori nodded. Jade scoffed. "That's probably the cheesiest thing I've ever heard. But it's you and Andre, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

"…Why am I talking to you about this?"

Jade barely shrugged. "Cat's playing Mangoes to Mangoes with Robbie and Beck's sister and Beck's making sure Robbie doesn't start putting the moves on her."

Tori's nose wrinkled to that. "Bleh. Isn't she like ten?"

"Nah. She just looks it."

"Oh." Tori started playing with her necklace again. When she was nervous, she need to get rid of that energy, usually by playing with her jewelry, straightening out her clothes, or messing with her hair. However, she had pulled her hair up for once, since it was a special occasion and she hadn't wanted her brunette locks to get in the way of Andre's lips, so she had kept a death grip on her necklace for most of the night.

Don't believe it? The star shaped imprint on her hand basically proved it.

"Look, as much as I hate giving you advice, I have to stop you from spazzing out." Jade sat her scissors down and crossed her arms, looking back at Tori. "Stop stressing over this. Andre's crazy about you, for some reason. You could slobber all over his face and he'd be giddy."

"Giddy? Did you just say 'giddy'?" Tori asked.

"Don't you dare judge me for my expansive vocabulary."

Tori slowly nodded. "Okay then…" She looked to the side, trying to find where her new boyfriend went. They had spent most of the night together, but he had dismissed himself to go to the bathroom, so she obviously didn't follow him there. He had been a while, and she was starting to wonder whether or not he had flushed himself down the toilet so he wouldn't have to kiss her.

No, that was ridiculous. He would never fit in there.

And he really did like her. That too.

"The year dies in ten minutes," Jade told her, and Tori resisted the urge to roll her eyes when Jad basically said 2011 was going to die at midnight. "Find Harris and smush faces with him before he comes to his senses."

"Yeah… I'll be sure to do that." Tori gave her frenemy a small smile. "Thanks, Jade."

Jade shrugged. "Whatever. And if anyone asks about the dining room curtains that I wonked up, I'm saying it was your fault."

"… Why do I not have a restraining order against you?"

"No lawyer could keep me from making you miserable."

"Uh huh, thanks for the help, Jade."

"Stop thanking me."

"I give up."

/ /

"Andre, get out of there," Beck said through the bathroom door. He had been spying on Robbie when he became aware of the fact that his buddy was missing mere minutes before New Year's. He knew that wasn't a good sign, considering how much of a wreck Andre could get when it came to his emotions. A New Year's Eve kiss could be pretty emotion evoking.

"No," Andre muttered from his spot by the bathtub. "I kinda like it in here. There's a place for me to throw up, since I'm pretty sure I'm going to do that before the night is over, and, y'know, I'd never need a bathroom break."

Beck leaned against the wall by the door and crossed his arms. "What about food?"

"… These decorative soaps smell like strawberries. They might taste like it."

Beck sighed. "Andre, you're already dating Tori. Why are you so scared to kiss her?"

"I wasn't at first." Andre pulled his knees up to his chest, looking like a sad little boy. "But we've been waiting and I know she's expecting it to be something special and I want it to be too… But what if it's not?"

Beck looked up at the ceiling, trying to think of the right way to word what he wanted to say. After thinking of his own personal experience with his first kiss with Jade, he finally managed to come up with, "When you first kiss the girl you know you're in love with, it's always going to be special."

Beck heard nothing for a while, until Andre quietly said, "This soap tastes terrible."

"Then maybe you should come out here and kiss Tori instead of licking soap."

More silence, that is until he heard the click of the lock and the opening of the door. Andre slowly stepped out of the bathroom and gave Beck a grateful grin. "I have a beautiful half-Latina girl with an amazing voice and even more amazing cheekbones to find."

Even Beck had to admit that Tori had great cheekbones. Just don't tell Jade that he thinks that. That would lead to disaster.

"Good luck, buddy," Beck said, patting Andre on the back as he walked back down the hallway.

He was gonna need it, since he probably taste like soap.

Beck was about to go find Jade, but he saw that Robbie and Cat were done playing Mangoes to Mangoes with his sister and were now on one of the living room couches, laughing about one thing or another. Cat had her head on his shoulder and was feeding him some of her red velvet cupcakes and he didn't even look freaked out about it. Or about the gluten in it.

Beck could tell there wasn't anything romantic going on. They were just talking, just talking with some minor snuggling. No big deal.

But there seemed to be something more than friendship there. He could tell, but he couldn't tell what.

Cat and Robbie just confused him sometimes.

At least they liked the cupcakes that required him cashing in his man card.

/ /

Tori was sitting on the bottom step of the main staircase, hands tucked between her knees. She had looked all over for Andre, but hadn't seen him anywhere and there were only two minutes until midnight. All the bathrooms were empty and he was nowhere in sight. Just when she was starting to think he had bailed because she was gross and didn't want their lips to touch-

"Hey there. You look like a girl who could use a first kiss."

Tori looked up to see a hand being held out to her. Attached to that hand was Andre Harris.

She smiled as he took her hand in his and pulled her up onto her feet. "Andre! Where have you been? It's almost time!"

"Oh, you know." Andre shrugged and pulled Tori a little closer to her. "Hanging out in the bathroom… licking soap."

"… Do I even want to know?"

"Not really."

Tori laughed despite herself and rested her head on Andre's shoulder. "I always thought you were so calm and level headed. If I had known you were so abnormal, I might have thought twice before we started going out."

Andre smiled, wrapping an arm around her waist. "You remember what I said your first day at Hollywood Arts? After Jade dumped iced coffee on your head?"

Tori nodded, lifting her head up. "Normal is boring."

"Ten seconds, everybody!" They could hear Cat cry from the living room, where everybody else was gathered around the TV, while Andre and Tori were by themselves in the grand foyer of Beck's parents' house.

Andre and Tori locked eyes and smiled. "Here's to a non-normal New Year."

Tori smiled as the clock went down to eight. "And a non-normal relationship."

Five.

Andre's grip on Tori tightened.

Four.

Tori wrapped her arms around Andre's shoulders.

Three.

They leaned closer to one another.

Two.

Their lips were mere centimeters away from one another's. They crept closer and closer and closer…

_One._

* * *

><p><em>Yeah, that's it.<em>

_I feel kind of janky for ending it there, but I couldn't right any farther. That would make it in January. This ain't JANUARY To Remember, y'all._

_Speaking of which, I've been asked several times If I was going to continue this, like with other months. Well, the answer is no. Mostly because I probably couldn't think of creative titles for any other months... okay, there are other reasons, but that's the prominent one._

_OKAY, thank you all sooooo much for your amazing reviews and support! I never thought this would be as popular as it was, and I'm glad that people actually liked it. _

_Thank you for an amazing run! I love you all and I hope I haven't left you completely disappointed. I less than three you all!_


End file.
